CUBA, globally recognized for its achievements in healthcare and medical advancements, has offered to share its technologies and expertise with the Philippines, according to its ambassador.
“We are open and willing to work with the Philippines on any field that we can actually bring a benefit to the Philippine population,” non-resident Cuba Ambassador to the Philippines Florentino Batista Gonzales said during the Pandesal Forum on Thursday.
“There are certain areas where we have accumulated an expertise and relative advantage, and one is the biomedical and biotech sector,” he added, “and we are willing to cooperate, willing to share what we have.”
The ambassador said there have been initial talks on cooperation in the medical sector before the coronavirus pandemic.
“We think we can help and we have offered that. Initial talks have been done before the pandemic, to be absolutely honest, but the pandemic happened, lockdown, so we are now trying to reignite that process,” Mr. Gonzales said.
The ambassador noted that Cuba has developed five vaccines that work against COVID-19. “There was a very high rate of success.”
He said they are ready to support the government’s goal of establishing a Virology and Vaccine Institute of the Philippines, which is important in advancing healthcare as well as in responding to pandemics.
“All countries need to have the capacity to answer to that, we need to have the capacity to develop, not just sit back and wait, (or search for) where can we get them, where we can buy what we need,” he said.
Philippine legislators have assured support to proposed laws that will establish the institute. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan