In her virtual speech at the high-level debate at the UN General Assembly on digital cooperation and connectivity, the Cuban minister also condemned how the United States blockade against Cuba is currently limiting people’s access to cutting-edge technologies.

Faced with these sorts of scenarios, Arevich called for global unity and solidarity.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are a tool to effectively face the Covid-19 pandemic and to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda, she stressed.

‘Based on these principles, we reiterate the need to strengthen international cooperation and solidarity, in order to build a more just, equitable, inclusive and much better connected world,’ she said.

She also referred to the existing digital divide among different nations, despite breakthroughs reached recently. These inequities increased during the pandemic, while the context of the health crisis itself gave greater relevance to ICTs for working, studying, doing business and living under the current circumstances, she stated.

That is why, it is so important to have a TIC infrastructure that favors access for all on equal terms and also helps to respond to the great challenges in the digital field, she insisted.

Cuba is currently working on an Economic and Social Development Plan, in correspondence with the objectives and goals of the 2030 Agenda, and which conceives the development of telecommunications within the strategic axes and sectors of the economy, the minister explained.

Despite Washington’s economic, commercial and financial blockade, Cuba goes on expanding services in those areas, she said.

jg/pll/oda/ifb