First institutional meeting after the memorandum signed at CoP27

ROME (March 17^th) The Technical- Institutional Mission of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security will be held in Havana and Cienfuegos, (Cuba), from March 20 to 24, within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of Sustainable Development with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of the Republic of Cuba, (CiTMA).

This is the first meeting of the Joint Committee, (JC1), in the context of the new Memorandum of Understanding, (MoU), signed between the two Ministries on the sidelines of CoP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, held in November 2022.

This meeting will see the adoption of the environmental cooperation governance documents, (Rules of Procedure and Guiding Principles). It will also be an opportunity to hold other institutional meetings with the Counterparty, with UNDP and UNIDO Cuba.

At the center of the visit stands the implementation status update regarding the projects Maritime Surveillance in Cuba - SEnSE Solution", Coastal Protection of the Malecón and EcoAtlante. Initiatives that aim respectively to increase adaptation measures to extreme weather events and risk prevention; to identify engineering solutions to prevent flooding of the Havana coastline and to protect and conserve marine ecosystems.

Within the mission, there will also be technical visits to the Environmental Studies Center of Cienfuegos, (CEAC), contact person for the EcoAtlas Project, (Cienfuegos), to the National Institute of Meteorology, (INSMET) contact person for the Marina Vigilancia Project, (Havana) and to the National Institute of Resources Water, (INRH) contact person for the Malecon Project, (Havana). Finally, the mission will give the opportunity to update the cooperation activities of MASE with the Italian Embassy in Havana.

The environmental collaboration between Italy and Cuba began in 2017, the year of the signing with the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment of Cuba, (CiTMA), of the Memorandum of Understanding, in Havana, on vulnerability to climate change, risk management, adaptation and mitigation, now replaced by the new MoU on Sustainable Development.

Among the Sustainable Development Goals, (SDGs), identified for cooperation under the new Protocol, for Cuba are particularly important: SDG6, (on the management of water resources and aquatic environments), SDG7, (on access to sustainable and renewable energy sources), SDG13, (on fighting climate change and its negative effects), SDG14, (on the sustainable use of oceans and marine resources).