Radio Havana Cuba-15 September 2000 18:00 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 15 September 2000 18:00 *TIME FOR CONCRETE MEASURES AGAINST POVERTY AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT: --FILIPE PEREZ ROQUE *CUBA MAINTAINS COOPERATIVE RELATIONS WITH OVER 140 COUNTRIES *HAVANA TO HOST OCTOBER MEETING OF LATIN AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE *DEPUTY MINISTER CALLS FOR A HIGH PRIORITY ON CULTURE *CHINA'S FOREIGN MINISTER WILL ARRIVE IN CUBA ON SATURDAY *THE OIL CRISIS THREATENS A SOCIAL CRISIS OF GLOBAL PROPORTIONS *TIME FOR CONCRETE MEASURES AGAINST POVERTY AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT --FILIPE PEREZ ROQUE Havana, September 15 (RHC) -- Addressing Friday the United Nations General Assembly, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said last week's Millineum Summit demonstrated that it's time to adopt concrete measures against the poverty and underdevelopment affecting the majority of the planet's peoples. Perez Roque said Cuba, a poor country but with important human capital, has already begun to take action -- pointing to the 2 thousand Cuban health specialists offereing their services in 16 Central American, Caribbean and African nations as the result of a program adopted 2 years ago. The Cuban Foreign Minister reiterated Cuba's willingness to offer another 3 thousand doctors to help in the battle against AIDS in Africa, though he termed as indispensable cooperation from industrialized nations in the supply of medicines and medical equipment. Africa needs us, said Perez Roque, adding that Cuba is ready -- the ball is now in the courts of rich nations. Cuba's chief diplomat said that 50 years after the founding of the United Nations, and at the threshold of a new millineum, one would think that there should be peace, well-being and greater solidarity, but that, on the contrary, poor peoples are facing the most acute economic, social, political and environmental crisis that humankind can recall. Criticizing so-called humanitarian interventions, the Cuban Foreign Minister said this new and dangerous doctrine poses no threats to industrialized nations because it's directed against poor countries. Instead of trying to defend the right to intervene in another nation based on alleged humanitarian reasons, Perez Roque said, the industrialized North should be leading a process towards total world disarmament, which, he added, would free up resources to save the lives of the silent victims of war, hunger and disease. *CUBA MAINTAINS COOPERATIVE RELATIONS WITH OVER 140 COUNTRIES Havana, September 15 (RHC)-Cuba maintains cooperation relations with over 140 countries in 15 different sectors, mostly in health, education, construction, fishing, agriculture, sports, culture, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and tourism. The Deputy Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Noemi Benitez, made the announcement on Thursday in Havana, adding that the first technical assistance offered by Cuba was a medical brigade to Algeria in 1963. The Cuban official said that since 1963 up until 1999, a total of 138 thousand 805 Cubans have offered their services to over one hundred countries, adding that there are currently 5 thousand 862 in some 100 nations. She also stressed that since 1961 up until 1999, some 38 thousand 760 foreign students have graduated in Cuba and that there are currently over 8 thousand studying on the island. *HAVANA TO HOST OCTOBER MEETING OF LATIN AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Havana, September 15 (RHC)-Cuba will host the Latin American Chamber of Commerce meeting to be held from the 19th to the 21st of October in Havana. The President of Cuba's Chamber of Commerce, Antonio Luis Carricarte Corona, said on Friday in Havana that the forum will include issues related to trade and investment in Latin America and a special session will be dedicated to Cuba. The President of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce added that this forum has a special significance for the island. *DEPUTY MINISTER CALLS FOR A HIGH PRIORITY ON CULTURE Havana, September 15 (RHC)-Cuba's first Deputy Minister of Culture, Rafael Bernal, has called on all institutions to unite in spreading culture to the population in an attempt to turn the island into one of the most cultured nations in the world. The Cuban official was speaking at the opening of the Third Meeting of municipal Culture Directors underway in Havana with the participation of over 200 delegates island wide. Gathered in five working commissions, the delegates will also discuss the agreements made during the 6th Congress of Cuba's Writers and Artists Association, UNEAC, held in November of 1998. *CHINA'S FOREIGN MINISTER WILL ARRIVE IN CUBA ON SATURDAY Havana, September 15 (RHC)-China's Foreign Minister, Tang Jiaxuan. will arrive in Havana on Saturday for an official visit. During his stay on the island, the Chinese Foreign Minister and his delegation will meet with Cuban government officials as well as visit places of social, cultural and economic places of interest. Both counties are expected to sign cooperation agreements. Viewpoint: *THE OIL CRISIS THREATENS A SOCIAL CRISIS OF GLOBAL PROPORTIONS Protests against the current skyrocketing oil prices on the international market have become a daily practice in an ever-growing number of consumer countries, especially European nations. Countries like Holland, Poland, Germany, France and Spain have become the daily scene of street protests, transportation strikes and the blocking of highways demanding that governments subsidize or at least reduce oil prices. On September 12th, the President of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries -OPEC-, Venezuelan Ali Rodriguez, warned of an impending international fuel crisis. He revealed that OPEC members had already reached their extraction limit capacity, following the group's agreement to increase oil pumping to over 3 million barrels a day. Rodriguez added that Saudi Arabia -the world's largest oil exporter- is one of the few nations actually capable of increasing production of the desperately needed natural resource. There is no question that fuel is indispensable to economic and trade operations. The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries also blamed speculators for the current rise in international prices. In that regard, Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, stated that the astronomical increase in fuel prices are best reflected in the cost of gasoline -its main derivative and the most affected by state taxation in consumer nations. Chavez recalled that when, a few years ago, oil prices dropped to eight dollars a barrel, the price of gasoline did not suffer a proportional decline. He added that the sensitive issue is included on the agenda of the upcoming OPEC Summit, scheduled for Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, later this month. The Third World is the most affected by the current crisis. In addition to the annual servicing of their unsustainable, never-ending foreign debt, those countries are now forced to earmark most of their scarce resources to buy the fuel they need to put their faltering industries to work. Even the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, has acknowledged that the skyrocketing oil prices on the international market will bring about a 0.75 percent economic decrease in Third World nations. According to a study conducted by the international lending institution, the current phenomenon will inevitably have a devastating impact on the world economy. The current oil crisis is truly threatening to bring about economic and social chaos of unpredictable global proportions. (c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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