Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba Mirta Aurora Granda Averhoff presented her Letters of Credence to President George Vella at the Grandmaster’s Palace in Valletta.
President Vella welcomed the very good relations between Malta and Cuba notwithstanding the geographical distance that exists between our two countries. He added that there is ample potential for further deepening of cooperation in areas of shared interest such as health, trade, culture, and people-to-people contacts. On the educational front, cooperation may continue to take place through entities such as IMLI, ITS and the UOM. President Vella underlined Malta’s support to longstanding relations between the EU and Cuba, with high-level political dialogue meetings having started in 2008, in parallel with programming of the first EU-Cuba Bilateral Cooperation Strategy.
Ambassador Mirta Aurora Granda Averhoff gave an overview of the impact that the embargo continues to have on Cuba, especially in the financial and banking sectors. Despite the setbacks, the Cuban authorities are willing to establish good relations with the country’s neighbours. The ambassador explained that the economy has developed from one based on exportation to a service-based one that rests on tourism, health services, and biomedical technology.
