Guyana can expect continued technical and expert assistance from Cuba in areas such as transport and marine cooperation based on the agreed minutes at the 24th Session of the Guyana/Cuba Joint Commission on Economic and Technical Cooperation.

At the close of the two-day meeting, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation John Isaacs said Cuba will continue to assist Guyana in agriculture, health, education, sport and culture, and maritime cooperation.

As regard health, Isaacs said Cuba will provide specialized training in a number of areas. Staff have already been identified for the Diamond and Leonora Diagnostic centres. Training of Guyanese medical students will continue in Cuba but they will do their internship locally, for which provision has already been made. A number of Guyanese medical students, from a total of 69 expected, have already returned to start their internship.

In terms of sport a number of Cuban coaches would serve in athletics and boxing. As regard agriculture, Cuba will enable post-graduate studies for specialization and will also assist in the area of pest management control.

In education; a proposal was made for Cuba to assist Guyana in building its Spanish programme from the secondary to university level by teaching over a five-year period. The focus would be on training Guyanese teachers in pedagogy as well as developing the human resource base.

As for maritime cooperation, Guyana is seeking assistance to develop its port and berthing facilities especially since the opening of the Takutu Bridge linking Guyana and Brazil is expected to increase trade with the Caribbean, North America and beyond. Training in other areas such as port management and administration, coastal and marine communication may also be provided.