Paris, France. – Participation in the summit for a new global financial compact was “interesting”; It gave us “a vision of where the world is going” and “also of the pitfalls that exist around global funding issues.”
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, shared these and many other criteria with the members of the Cuban diplomatic missions in the French Republic and at UNESCO.
This was the last activity of the official Antillean delegation in Paris before returning home last Friday evening (local time) and became a cordial meeting between Cubans, during which Díaz-Canel drew up a summary of the work carried out during the week by him and his Companions, including Politburo member and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.
This summit, explained the head of state, was the reason why the trip to Europe was organized for this date.
The tour also famously included the Vatican, where he had a private exchange with Pope Francis; to Italy, where he was received by the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and held a dialogue with the Organization’s Secretary General, QU Dongyu, at FAO headquarters in Rome; and to Serbia, where he paid an official visit and was received with great affection by the people and by President Aleksandar Vucic and the head of the legislature, Vladimir Orlic.
“It was really an interesting and fruitful trip for us and for the country,” Díaz-Canel summed up in front of the Cuban diplomats accredited in Paris.
TOGETHER WITH THE POPE AND IN ITALY, RESPECT CUBA
“We – according to the President – had an upcoming visit to the Pope and when we met this week he was very friendly towards the Cuban side. He told us, “You know how I feel about the Cuban people.”
Díaz-Canel explained that the Cuban side spoke with the Pope about the situation in the country and the need to give an updated view of it, also on the basis of the tightening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States such as the island’s inclusion in the false list of alleged terrorism-supporting countries.
“The visit of the Holy See was the objective that initially led us to Italy,” he pointed out, “but then we had a bilateral meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella.” “It was a good meeting,” he added, ” there was great agreement on a number of issues, particularly on cooperation, at the level of relations between our countries.”
Díaz-Canel also commented on his visit to the FAO, an organization with which we have always had good relations, he said. “FAO is supporting us by funding a group of projects under the Food Sovereignty and Nutrition Education Program.”
Another activity in Rome was exchanges with a business community from the country investing in Cuba, in what the head of state described as an “intense meeting”.
He pointed out that Italian investors in Cuba have a very positive attitude. Despite the difficulties, such as the debt they have incurred, their focus is on moving forward and continuing to offer business.
He was addressing a very special feature of the Italian business community that has ties with Cuba, and that is that the daughters and sons of those who started businesses on the island decades ago, and the generation that will follow them, do those businesses have continued and want to develop them.
“This has been maintained for generations, this has been passed on, and there are very beautiful life stories, many references to meetings with Fidel and an enormous commitment,” emphasized the President.
SERBIA, A VERY POSITIVE VISIT
In particular, on the official visit to Serbia, where the attitude of President Aleksandar Vucic and his cabinet towards Cuba was “excellent”, Díaz-Canel commented on the visits of Vucic in 2017 and his predecessor Tomislav Nikolic in Havana in 2015.
The Cuban head of state praised the attitude of the Serbian government and its people towards the Greater Antilles, stressing that “this is a country with which we can do things that we did not foresee” such as buying wheat, corn and other groceries as well as the creation of economic-commercial relations in the fields of tourism, biotechnology, health, agriculture and scientific-technical exchanges.
This was also “a very positive visit and we were together with the most important Serbian personalities, especially the President and also the President of the National Assembly,” he summarized.
SUMMIT IN FRANCE: A “COMPLICATED” EVENT
Referring to the summit for a new world financial pact, held this Thursday and Friday in Paris at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron, at which Cuba participated in the exercise of the pro tempore presidency of the G77 group plus China, Díaz-Canel pointed out was “a complicated event”.
Speaking on behalf of the G77 group and China, a different position could be expressed at this meeting, stressed the dignitary, who congratulated Cuban diplomats for the hard work done at this summit.
Cuba’s speech on behalf of the G77 and China was a turning point compared to those delivered so far on Thursday, he said, although Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and South African Cyril Ramaphosa made two good speeches this Friday , in addition to the intervention of Kenyan President William Ruto.
These interventions tended to come from the left, analyzed Díaz-Canel, for whom the statements of the world banking and financial elite – “those sitting there with the poor countries” – end in promises. “You know that funds need to be raised, that these summits need to be held, but… Who is going to provide the money? The rich?
We already have experience in this regard, argued the Cuban President in his dialogue with our accredited diplomats in France, citing the example of the climate change summits, which in more than ten years have not managed to provide the promised funding. “It was more than $100 billion a year. How much of it was given? Who received what was given?
“Therefore, the denunciation, the emphasis that the international economic order is unjust, anachronistic, exclusive and undemocratic, is shared by the Third World. All of that needs to change. Now how can we change it? What can we do to change it?” mused the Cuban President.
President Macron – the statesman emphasized – asked himself the same questions; And what is the focus they give you? “We cannot achieve it by eliminating everything that already exists”; In other words, this cannot be achieved by abolishing the International Monetary Fund, it cannot be achieved by abolishing the World Bank, it cannot be achieved by abolishing the financial institutions…
“And it is clear that this is not possible, because as long as there is capitalism, the third world countries will not have a chance to solve this problem,” denounced the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
Now, he added another time, ‘a group of issues are emerging that want to be dealt with from the First World and offered as recipes to the Third World; I would say they are necessary things, but what matters is how we apply them?”
They’re like – he described – “the digital transition, the energy transition, green hydrogen… It’s all very good, and it’s a lot of technology, but how could third world countries do that if they acquired one.” Megawatts of photovoltaics -Modules have to pay a million dollars?
“These siren songs sometimes motivate a group of countries, but then comes the disappointment of what can be achieved.”
As he resumed the agenda of the Cuban delegation from four European countries last week, Díaz-Canel spoke affectionately of his visit to UNESCO headquarters, where he was received by Director-General Audrey Azolay. “This is, he said, a United Nations agency with which we also have a great relationship and which recognizes Cuba’s role.”
During the days in Paris, the Cuban head of state also met with Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations Organization, a meeting he described as pleasant. Also very important was the meeting with the President of Brazil Luis Ignacio Lula Da Silva, about whom he wrote on his Twitter account that they exchanged views on the possibilities of increased cooperation in areas of common interest.
Finally, the President spoke to the Cuban diplomats about the meetings between Thursday and Friday with representatives of French business present in Cuba, former President Francois Hollande and other politicians.
This concludes an intense trip by the Cuban delegation to several European countries, where the Greater Antilles have deepened bilateral relations and consolidated others; A tour that showed once again how much admiration and support Isla has around the world.