CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

New Cuban Envoy Reveals his Dreams

• “It’s time for an Arabic version of ‘Yes, I can’ programme”

 

Egypt, May 4th, 2010. The new Cuban envoy in Egypt wants to boost his country's already strong educational and cultural relations with Egypt.

"We have had good diplomatic and political relations for more than half a century, ever since the relations began in 1949. We have always shared the same political views and are both members of the Non-Aligned Movement and we've never had any problems," says new Cuban Ambassador in Cairo Otto Vaillant Frias, adding that the time has come for the relations and co-operation between the two countries to be more than just political.

Frias explains, however, that there's little chance for trade and economic co-operation, thanks to the US blockade of Cuba that has hurt its economy.

"In the past, Egypt bought our sugar and we bought Egypt's cotton, although today we don't have such relations," he told The Egyptian Gazette in an interview.

"But we still have the chance to boost relations in the educational and cultural areas," says Frias, who is now in talks with the Egyptian authorities to translate into Arabic the Cuban programme for eradicating illiteracy.

Cuba offers literacy and post-literacy educational programmes called 'Yes, I can' and 'Yes, I can continue', created and put into practice by Cuban educators, in order to teach people how to read and write to a primary education level.

These audiovisual programmes are based on the knowledge young and adults acquire in their daily lives.

The 'Yes, I can' method is receiving growing international recognition, evidenced by its two honourary mentions and the King Sejong Prize, granted by UNESCO.

The Executive Council of UNESCO has concluded that the 'Yes, I can' programme is a valuable weapon in the fight against regional illiteracy.

"It has been adopted by many countries and has been translated into English, French and Portuguese. Now it's time to have an Arabic version for the Arab world to use," adds the Cuban envoy, who hopes to see the Arabic version of this programme soon.

Frias also believes that Egypt and Cuba could co-operate more in the medical sector and biotechnology.

"We have developed a good reputation for selling vaccines and ophthalmology. Nearly 2 million blind people can now see after having operations in Cuba," he says, adding that Cuba has also developed programmes for training doctor, from different countries.

In the field of ophthalmology, Cuba has made great achievements in treating retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary anomaly that causes the narrowing of the field of vision, leading to blindness.

The new envoy would also like to see more cultural activities between the two countries. Already, several Cuban troupes have visited Egypt. Some of their visits were really historic.

"Cubans look like Egyptians and we feel that we owe part of our Hispanic culture to the Arabs, who were in Spain for several centuries. But we want to bring to Egypt the best we have, and the best we have now is our human resources," he says.

"It is thanks to our solidarity and our revolutionary spirit that we have developed," explains Frias, who has only spent a few months in Egypt and probably need more time to develop his dreams. By Ihab Shaarawy ( Taken from “The Egyptian Gazette”, 02/05/10).(Cubaminrex- Embacuba Egipto)

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