Pretoria - International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim has thanked the Cuban government for its ongoing commitment and support to South Africa in the areas of medicine, sport and education.
Ebrahim met with his Cuban counterpart Marcelino Medina during the 8th meeting of the South Africa-Cuba Joint Consultative Mechanism (JCM) held in Pretoria this week.
The meeting took place against the backdrop of 16 years of diplomatic relations between South Africa and Cuba, a strategic partner in Latin America and the Caribbean.
According to a statement released by the department, the discussions afforded both delegations the opportunity to interact and engage with each other on a range of issues of mutual interest.
It said Embrahim further thanked the Cubans for their "tremendous" support for the government's five key priorities, particularly in the area of health.
"The forum was also utilised to discuss developments in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean Regions. Time was devoted to focussing on common positions in the multilateral arena, and to address issues of mutual concern".
The two also agreed that the annual JCM between the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation and the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs remains a useful forum in exchanging positions and views on a wide range of topics and concluded that Cuba will host the next round of talks in 2011.
