Basseterre, St Kitts .
The Government of the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis will explore the possibility of establishing an embassy in Cuba by 2014, in an effort to strengthen the existing relationship between the two Caribbean nations.
St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas gave the commitment during a courtesy call by Hugo Ruiz Cabrera, who assumed the post of chargé d’affaires ad interim, following the departure of Jorge D. Payret Zubiaur, most recent ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Cuba to the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis.
Douglas and Cabrera also discussed several areas of cooperation of a bi-lateral nature in the area of education, health and agriculture.
Currently, approximately 40 students are pursuing degrees in Cuba, the majority being in medicine. One student recently graduated with a nursing degree and some six others are expected to graduate at the end of the month in the same discipline. This is the first batch of nurses to graduate from Cuba.
Other areas in which students are currently studying include mechanical engineering, physical education and sports and psychology.
Since 1998, Cuba has been maintaining a medical brigade through a steady deployment of medical practitioners in a variety of areas (gynecology, pediatrics, ophthalmology, pathology, etc.) to the federation to supplement and the core of medical personnel at the main hospitals.
Cuba has been one of the partners in the field of agriculture, especially with respect to technical assistance – training in organic farming, which has been developed by the agricultural department into what is now considered “backyard farming” as a food security initative in the Federation.
