The United Nations System in Cuba (SNU), represented by its resident coordinator Francisco Pichón, and Cuba signed today the fourth Cooperation Framework for Sustainable Development, considered the most important instrument for the planning and implementation of United Nations development activities in each country.
This new Cooperation Framework covers the last journey towards the 2030 Agenda and defines the joint work of this new stage with a more comprehensive approach.
“ANDAmong its prioritized areas of cooperation are support for an effective Government, productive Transformation; Environmental sustainability and disaster risks; and Human Development with Equity,” declares a communication from SNU Cuba.
Aligned with national development priorities—with the Plan National Development (PNDES 2030)—, This Cooperation Framework addresses climate action in a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) context.
It also seeks to contribute to the productive transformation and support of strategic sectors such as biotechnology, agri-food systems, tourism, new economic actors, creative and cultural industries, as well as the country’s efforts to strengthen social protection, among other priorities.
During the signing ceremony, Pichón highlighted the support that the different agencies, funds and programs of the UN in Cuba have offered to the eastern provinces.
Recently, given the approach of Hurricane Melissa, an Anticipatory Action Framework was deployed to proactively locate, in the places where there would potentially be the most damage, food, medicine, hygiene kits, tarps and other essential supplies for affected people.
Hurricane Melissa: The UN deploys health, hygiene and food security supplies in eastern Cuba
“While this act is taking place, we are preparing an Action Plan to respond to the impacts that Hurricane Melissa has left on Cuba. That is our concept of cooperation: to be where the country needs it most and to work tirelessly in responding to emergencies and, at the same time, for the sustainable development of Cuba,” Pichón stressed during the signing ceremony.
The signing of this new Cooperation Framework coincides with the 80th anniversary of the United Nations.
“A world of increasingly scarce resources and overlapping crises, the future of cooperation requires a more integrated, efficient and supportive UN,” wrote Pichón in the prologue of the Results Report 2024in which it was already announced that the implementation of this Cooperation Framework “will demand greater complementarity between agencies for the UNS in Cuba to avoid duplication, promote innovative solutions to financial restrictions, and promote bolder alliances with all sectors of society.”
