Cuba to give additional scholarships

The Belize-Cuba Mixed Commission is meeting in Belmopan over the next two days for talks on technical cooperation programs. Today’s discussion included a review of projects in health, education, housing, agriculture, trade and tourism. Ambassador to Cuba Amalia Mai told News Five there was excellent participation from the various ministry personnel and areas of further collaboration were identified. She says there is a great demand for scholarships and although they have already offered eighty-six scholarships, Cuba will be adding seventy more for fall of 2000. Next month six Belizeans will begin postgraduate studies and seven more will join them in February. Cuba is also offering preparatory Spanish courses, particularly for those wishing to study medicine. At the moment fifty-six Cuban doctors are working in Belize under the collaboration agreement, most of them in the public sector. Tomorrow the Mixed Commission will present its final report to the Prime Minister Said Musa. The Cuban delegation includes Charge D’Affairs for the Embassy of Cuba Francisco Marchante, Acting Vice Minister Roberto Rivas, health representative in Belize Dr. Leonardo Cuestas and Jesus Gonzalez of Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Investment.