Havana, Cuba.- Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmierca has ratified on Tuesday to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres Cuba”s will to continue strengthening ties with the multilateral organization.

In a meeting this Tuesday with the highest representative of the United Nations, both discussed sustainable development and exchanged on various issues of interest of the national and international arena.

Malmierca reaffirmed Cuba’s commitment to the implementation of Agenda 2030, which it fosters during its presidency of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

He also referred to the negative impact of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba and the recent measures taken by the Donald Trump administration, such as the full implementation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.

All of this constitutes an obstacle to the prosperity and well-being of the Cuban people. Moreover, this hostile policy is overwhelmingly rejected by the General Assembly every year, he recalled.

For his part, Guterres recognized Cuba’s achievements in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the important contribution Cuba is making to other southern countries in this area.

On Monday, the Cuban Minister met with the President of the General Assembly, Maria Fernanda Espinosa; the UN Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed; and the Administrator of the United Nations Development Program, Achim Steiner.

In those meetings, Malmierca reaffirmed Cuba’s commitment to Agenda 2030 and addressed the negative consequences of the U.S. blockade on cooperation between the United Nations system and Cuba.

Such meetings are part of the activities carried out by the Cuban Minister during the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.