The Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) inaugurated this Monday its first permanent headquarters in Havana with the purpose of deepen cooperation with Cuba.
The office, which has three employees and a project in full implementation, aspires to expand in Cuba, which has been a member of the OEI since 1985 but had no headquarters in its territory.
Today we have inaugurated our office in Cuba ??.
With the new office in Havana, we are already present in 2⃣0⃣ countries in #Iberoamericacontributing to cooperation in #education, #science Y #culture happen.
We tell you more ?https://t.co/4BHL4eiM3K
— OEI (@EspacioOEI) November 28, 2022
The general secretary of the OEI, Mariano Jabonero, assured in the opening ceremony that the opening was an “old illusion” of his and an “act of justice”, because Cuba had maintained a “historical loyalty” with the organization.
He added in statements to efe that without a physical headquarters it was difficult to deepen the work and assured that “a lot of love, work and enthusiasm” has been put into the start-up of the Cuban office.
The current project of the OEI in Cuba tries to improve digitization by integrating the universities of Informatics Sciences, the Agrarian University, and the José Antonio Echeverría Technological University of Havana, with the purpose of enhancing the skills of teachers for the development of distance education from virtual courses, according to a report from the Cuban News Agency (ACN).
The Cuban Minister of Education, Ena Elsa Velázquez, assured for her part that the inauguration of the OEI office supposes the “materialization of the common purpose of strengthening relations” and the “beginning of a superior period of work.”
The agreement between the Cuban Government and the OEI to open this permanent headquarters was signed last March in Havana. Jabonero, who was re-elected last week for another four years at the head of the OEI, assured then that this step tried to “normalize” the situation of Cuba in the organization.
The OEI is an intergovernmental organization for cooperation in education, science, technology and culture in the Ibero-American sphere and with an objective of integral development.
According to its website, it is the largest multilateral cooperation organization between Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Ibero-American countries, with more than 3,000 workers in 19 countries.
Efe/OnCuba.
