ZOU Ciyong, Managing Director of the Directorate of Programme, Partnerships and Field Coordination, and Director of the Department of Regional and Field Coordination of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Soraya Alvarez Nuñez, Cuba's Charge d'Affaires a.i., have signed the Country Programme Cuba 2021-2025.
Through the CP Cuba 2021-2025, UNIDO will support Cuba in the following areas: i). innovation and availability of information; ii) Productive transformation; iii) Investment and technology transfer; and iv) Sustainable management of natural resources and improvement of environmental quality.
The new framework addresses the country's strategic priorities defined in the Cuba National Plan for Economic and Social Development until 2030, and will contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2020-2024, agreed between Cuba and the United Nations System.
Likewise, the CP Cuba 2021-2025 will take into consideration previous experiences and achievements. The first Country Programme Cuba, implemented between 2016-2020, was one of UNIDO's most successful programmatic frameworks in the LAC region and contributed to the development of national value chains, the adoption and development of technologies and the diversification of the energy matrix. During the CP Cuba 2016-2020, eight projects were implemented and US$9.4m was mobilized.
During the signing ceremony, Zou Ciyong said that "UNIDO is committed to supporting Cuba in advancing its inclusive and sustainable industrial development".
Cuba's Soraya Alvarez Nuñez said that UNIDO has played an important role in the promotion of foreign investment and the creation of strategic alliances aimed at strengthening Cuba's industrial capacities and the execution of projects in key sectors such as renewable energies and the food and cultural industries, associated with the national priorities included in the National Plan for Economic and Social Development until 2030.
