Cuba has announced increased assistance to member countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). 

Cuban Foreign Minister Filepe Perez, in a presentation to the May 24th-25th Meeting of OECS Heads of Government in Grenada, reaffirmed his country’s strong commitment to building strong economic, social and cultural ties with the sub-regional grouping, and promised expansion of ongoing projects and introduction of several new ones.

Mr. Perez announced that the Miracle Eye project which has so far provided eye surgeries for 9,799 OECS nationals, after testing one in every 58 persons in the islands, will continue, but the Cuban surgeons will now travel to the OECS islands to conduct the operations, allowing them to see more people and preventing patients from having to travel away from their families.

Cuba is also assisting with the development, equipping and staffing of Diagnostic Centres in  Antigua/Barbuda, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, an eye centre in St. Lucia, and the reconstruction of the main hospital in Grenada. They are offering twenty-five post-graduate scholarships for the 2007-2008 academic year to OECS nationals involved in work related to the fight against HIV Aids.  The Cubans also announced plans to establish a special medical training facility in Cuba specifically for Eastern Caribbean students, with an enrollment of up to 400.  A further 138 non-medical scholarships are also being offered for the upcoming academic year.

Mr. Perez also announced the continuation of  the energy saving initiative which has seen Cuba already installing 700,000 energy saving light bulbs in homes across the OECS, with an estimate annual savings in electricity costs of more than nine million EC dollars.  Cuba is proposing, as part of its long term support for the programme, to provide replacement bulbs to the sub-region at cost price.

The OECS Heads of Government expressed their gratitude to the government and people of Cuba for their ongoing generosity, noting that the Cuban government has repeatedly insisted that it requires nothing in return.  The Heads extended through the visiting Foreign Minister, best wishes for the continuing speedy recovery of President Fidel Castro.