Raúl Delgado Concepción: The will to strengthen the bilateral relations prevails
PoliticsUlaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between
Mongolia and the Republic of Cuba falls today. On the occasion of the event Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the
Republic of Cuba to Mongolia, Mr.Raúl Delgado Concepción shares his view,
experience and plans regarding the relations of the two countries.
• Current state of the
bilateral relations
The bilateral relations between Cuba and Mongolia
date back to December 7, 1960 when both countries began to travel the path of
mutual knowledge, cooperation and established the good relations marked by
their political coincidences of two nations with great potential in its people
and long history.
During these 60 years since the establishment of
diplomatic relations, high-level delegations have made bilateral visits that
mark historical moments. The visit in May 1970 to Mongolia by the Army General
and Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Raúl Castro Ruz brought a
message of solidarity and friendship of the Cuban people. He was accompanied on
that visit by the prestigious Cuban intellectual and National Poet, Nicolás
Guillén who from that moment on would serve as President of the Association of
Friendship between Cuba and Mongolia.
Many events have transpired during these 60 years of uninterrupted bilateral relations, I just want to emphasize that the will to continue expanding and strengthening them in the midst of a more and more globalized world has prevailed in this relationship between our two peoples and nations.
• Future
prospective, potential areas of collaboration
We have great potential for areas of collaboration
between our two countries, despite the main limitation that constitutes the
12,000 km that physically separate us. Among the areas that we can point out as
historical cooperation between our countries are those in which each one has
the greatest potential or development and which in the past constituted bridges
of commercial and economic exchange.
Currently these potentialities are framed for the
Cuban side in biotechnological pharmaceutical productions, the cooperation of
Cuban medical specialists, tourism, the training of human resources and in
fields such as sport and culture. On the Mongolian side, however, it would be
useful for Cuba to take advantage of Mongolia's experience in the extraction
and processing of minerals and also on animal husbandry.
• Cultural
and educational cooperation
The cultural and educational cooperation that our
country offered to Mongolia from as early as 1963, when the first Mongolian
students arrived in Cuba, constitutes an aspect that makes us proud in this
relationship. With the modest and altruistic effort of our government, 128 young Mongolians have
graduated in Cuba since that date. With the sole objective of contributing to
the training of these young people to build a better society in Mongolia, they
have been able to study the most dissimilar university degrees such as
Medicine, Stomatology, Veterinary Medicine, Sports and Physical Culture, Law,
Engineering, Pedagogy among many others.
Today these young people, formed into an
Association of Graduates in Cuba, contribute to
do their bit day by
day to a better and more prepared society for the future of Mongolia. Our
government, to the extent of its economic possibilities, has continued to offer
these scholarships to young Mongols every year as a sign of our commitment to
that friendship and the wish that these young people from low-income families
in Mongolia can also access to university education.
• Multilateral
cooperation
The area of multilateral cooperation is among the
most common in our two nations. I must remark at this point the gratitude of
our Government and our people for the continued support of Mongolia in the
battle that Cuba waged for more than 27 years in the framework of the United
Nations General Assembly against the criminal and genocidal blockade that the
States United States of North America have imposed Cuba for more than 59 years.
Mongolia's support for the Resolution that Cuba presents every year against
this policy of economic suffocation, highlights the adherence of both countries
to the precepts of the United Nations Charter, respect for the sovereignty and
self-determination of peoples as principles of foreign policy.
Our two countries cooperate extensively within the
framework of multilateral international organizations on the issues of great
importance that are discussed and negotiated there. This area of work is also
part of the strengths of our bilateral relationship, which we are addressing today
in this interview.
• Plans for
60th anniversary of diplomatic relations
From the beginning of this year 2020, both
countries, through their diplomatic missions and their Foreign Ministries,
approved a plan for the celebration of this important anniversary, which
includes high-level visits, the celebration of cultural and political events,
book editions, among others.
Some of these activities scheduled for this year
have had to be postponed due to the COVID 19 pandemic and the
emerging containment measures taken to protect and safeguard the population of
both countries from the spread of this deadly disease. These activities to
commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations
will be resumed as soon as the safety and health conditions for it are
restored.
• Sharing
personal experience as Ambassador of Cuba in Mongolia
As the Cuban Ambassador to Mongolia, I consider it
a historical privilege to have been able to carry out my work during this
period of time, which included such an important event as the celebration of
the 60th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. During these
four years of working with the authorities and the Mongolian people, we have
been able to accumulate numerous experiences on the culture, family, education
and the most ancient traditions of the Mongols.
All these experiences constitute a historical
learning framework for me, of a region and a country that played, during the
centuries from XI to XIII, an important role in the history of humanity. I
believe that sharing the history of Mongolia and its traditions constitutes the
main experience during my stay as Ambassador of Cuba in this fellow country.