Cuba-Pacific ministerial meeting underway in Havana
Updated
![Kiribati's President Anote Tong is among several Pacific island nation leaders in Havana for the first Cuba-Pacific Islands ministerial meeting. [ABC]](http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/img/news/base/kiribati_pres_tong_abc_0608.jpg?<BR> "Kiribati's President Anote Tong is among several Pacific island nation leaders in Havana for the first Cuba-Pacific Islands ministerial meeting. [ABC]")
Kiribati's President Anote Tong is among several Pacific island nation leaders in Havana for the first Cuba-Pacific Islands ministerial meeting. [ABC]
Senior government officials from a number of Pacific islands are in the Cuban capital, Havana, for the first Cuba-Pacific Islands ministerial meeting.
Cuban news agency, Prensa Latina, reports the three day talks which began Tuesday aim to deepen cooperation between the isolated central American nation and the Pacific island states.
The meeting is being attended by senior government representatives from around the Pacific, including Fiji's interim foreign minister Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, Kiribati President Anote Tong and Solomon Islands foreign minister William Haomae.
The news agency says the meeting will tackle cooperation in areas like health, sports, and education, as well as analyse common challenges including climate change, natural disasters, and global food and energy crisis.
Cuba maintains relations with 10 South Pacific states and young people from those islands have studied in the Caribbean nation since 2006.
