Havana, Cuba.- Cuba and the European Union (EU) began the first talks on sustainable development in Havana on Tuesday, with the aim of fostering projects and programmes that help meet current needs without compromising the resources of future generations.

The meeting, held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will address the progress made by Cuba and the EU in the implementation of Agenda 2030, a 17-objective program approved in September 2015 at the United Nations, which seeks to combat scourges such as poverty, hunger and exclusion in access to health, education and water.

During the opening ceremony, Stefano Manservisi, Director General of International Cooperation and Development of the European Commission, said that projects and programs related to agriculture and renewable energy, spheres linked to the challenge of climate change, innovation and sustainable consumption, are already being implemented.

He also gave special importance to the talks ‘because this is the first time that a truly global agenda has been debated, which identifies the problems of globalization’, he explained.

Manservisi stressed they strengthen bilateral ties and common action in a multilateral sphere, the objective of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation agreement reached by the sides in 2016, which entered into force provisionally in 2017.