A report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on the matter, points out details of its execution.
The event, to be held from September 17 to 19 at the Havana Convention Center, will be attended by more than 600 delegates from 17 countries: Spain, France, Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Peru, Brazil, Costa Rica, Panama, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Cuba.
A communiqué on the event said that the meeting was organized by the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture, the Center for the Study of Management, Local Development, Tourism and Cooperativism of the University of Pinar del Río, FAO and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
The workshop aims to identify the gaps, challenges and opportunities of the Cuban agrarian sector, as well as to promote the development of enterprises and financial schemes in production, transformation and commercialization as part of the food systems, taking as a reference different existing initiatives in the country.
The initiative has a broad participation of producers, representatives of different ministries and agencies of the Central State Administration, the National Association of Small Farmers, the National Association of Economists, the University of Havana, business groups, and the Antonio Nuñez Jimenez Foundation for Man and Nature.
Diplomatic representations from the Norwegian and Canadian embassies, members of the Swiss Cooperation Agency, the Landless Workers Movement of Brazil and the United Nations System in Cuba are also attending.
The opening remarks were made by the FAO Representative in Cuba, Marcelo Resende, who thanked the government of this country for giving priority to the celebration of this event.
During his speech at the First Workshop, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Cuba, Francisco Pichon, stressed the importance of addressing the challenges of the Cuban food sector with an approach that includes solutions on the scale required by the country’s problems.
Cooperat’s main objectives are to promote South-South cooperation and the formation of networks among actors linked to the cooperative sector and the social economy, among other aspects.
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