16 May 2007

Fiji offered medicine and sport aid from Cuba

9:41 am on 16 May 2007

Cuba has offered to assist Fiji in the fields of medicine and sport.

The offer was made by Cuba's ambassador to the United Nations to Fiji's minister for public enterprise, Poseci Bune, during a meeting in New York.

Mr Bune says Cuba has also offered assistance and partnerships to Fiji in the areas of agriculture and sugar.

Mr Bune says he will put Cuba's offer to assist before the interim cabinet and hopefully there will be a follow-up mission to discuss these issues with Cuba before the end of the year.

He says this could coincide with a special trade and development mission to Venezuela which has offered to do a feasibility study to build an oil refinery in Fiji.

Currently Cuba provides doctors and other professionals to countries in Africa and the Caribbean, as well as to Solomon Islands and Nauru in the Pacific.