Mr. President,

I’m delivering this statement on behalf of List E.

We welcome the proposed CSP which is in line with the country’s National Plan for Economic and Social Development through 2030 and other national strategic documents, as well as with the United Nations sustainable development cooperation framework for 2020–2024 in order to contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The List E recognizes the CSP for Cuba as the most important programme document, which contains guidelines for operative activities of WFP in the country correlating with its national priorities that would boost cooperation between Cuba, WFP and other interested countries.

The List E is supportive of the focus of this document on increasing the resilience of local food systems so that they can better meet the demand of social safety nets by the year 2024, with a special focus on the prevention of malnutrition and food insecurity among the most vulnerable groups, especially considering the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

We particularly welcome the proposed WFP’s activities within the country that envisage timely food assistance to shock-affected people while strengthening national and local capacity relevant to emergency preparedness and response, providing nutritious food to nutritionally vulnerable groups through social protection programmes, providing training, equipment and technical assistance to stakeholders of local food systems while ensuring a more diversified, stable and nutritious diet for school-age children. This will foster participation of the young people in the development of Cuban agriculture and help women gain more opportunities in the sector.

The countries within our List consider school meals as a core component of the national social protection system that could be leveraged to ensure access to food for the most vulnerable groups in the country and to promote community resilience and women’s economic empowerment.

We encourage WFP’s Cuba Country office to continue strengthening its collaboration with FAO, IFAD and other UN agencies in support of food value chains, sustainable food systems, resilience building, nutrition-sensitive approaches and implementation of social protection activities for food security.

We believe that the submitted document represents a fair platform for WFP action towards existing challenges in the country and support the respective CSP for Cuba.

Thank you, Mr. President.