Jamaica to strengthen co-operation with Cuba

By Alecia Smith-Edwards

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Jamaica is moving to strengthen co-operation with Cuba on key industries, such as agriculture and manufacturing, which can benefit both nations.

Minister of industry, commerce, agriculture and fisheries, Karl Samuda, said Jamaica is seeking to learn from the experience of Cuba, which “has done remarkably well with limited resources.”

He noted as well that Cuba has stayed on the cutting edge of competition with the technology that they have introduced.

The minister was speaking on Wednesday at a luncheon he hosted for deputy minister of foreign trade and investment of Cuba, Ambassador Ileana Núñez Mordoche, in Kingston.

Samuda has been having discussions with Mordoche to explore various areas for co-operation. The Cuban minister is in the island for a four-day working visit, which included a high level meeting in the morning.

The minister pointed out that one of the essential areas discussed during the meeting was how Jamaica could benefit from Cuba’s skills in sugar cane cultivation and sugar production.

“Our sugar industry is one sector where we feel we can gain a lot by being exposed to their training techniques and their approaches, in terms of the development of the factories and also the sugar fields as well,” he said.

Samuda said that out of those discussions, his Cuban counterpart extended an invitation for a team from Jamaica to visit Cuba “to see for ourselves, the techniques the methodology and the technology that they have applied to making their industry one of the most vibrant of its kind in the world.

The minister noted that Jamaica could also benefit from Cuba’s successes in the area of animal husbandry, where an alternative feeding programme is used to reduce dependency on imported raw materials for the manufacture of animal feed.

He noted that Jamaica also hopes to exchange ideas and approaches with Cuba in terms of training opportunities in critical industries.

In the meantime, Samuda informed that discussions also involved concrete ways in which bilateral trade relations could be enhanced between the two nations.

In her remarks, Mordoche noted that while both countries have excellent diplomatic and political relations, “our main objective is to increase bilateral trade relations. What we want is concrete relations, particularly in trade and economics.”

“We have already identified sectors where we can work together. Not only can Cuba share its own experience with Jamaica, Cuba also could benefit from Jamaican expertise,” she said.