With the adoption of a plan of action and final declaration by the 245 delegates from 28 nations, the VII African Continental Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba concluded here today.

The proposal of actions to strengthen collaboration with Cuba includes the areas of Education, Health, Science and Technology; Pan-African Solidarity, Economic Cooperation; People to People Solidarity.

Likewise, in initiatives related to Government to Government and Diplomatic relations; Culture; Women and Youth.

Among the proposals made by the delegates, the call to make additional efforts in the struggle for a peaceful and just world order stands out.

Consistent with their continued condemnation of the U.S. blockade of Cuba, its extraterritorial impacts and the foreign occupation of Guantanamo Bay, the participants adopted, among other programmatic measures, to remain united in efforts to raise awareness and intensify peaceful political protests directed at U.S. embassies.

These will be based on denouncing the unjust and illegal US blockade of Cuba, with its extraterritorial impacts, as well as the US occupation (with a naval base) of Guantanamo Bay.

The denunciations will also be made against the U.S. regime change agenda and other destabilization mechanisms directed against Cuba, and for the removal of the island from the unilateral list where Washington included it for allegedly sponsoring terrorism.

Those attending the VII Meeting pledged to deepen the ties of collaboration between Cuba and Africa in various sectors, including trade, investment and financial relations, health care, education, agriculture, infrastructure development and maintenance, as well as energy, science and technology.

In their Final Declaration, those present called for collaboration with the Brics countries in the search for alternative international monetary and payment systems, including interbank with Cuba.

They also called for building African Regional and Continental Truth Networks to combat «US-led imperialist propaganda and malicious media content against Cuba».

At the closing of the meeting, the Cuban ambassador to South Africa, Enrique Orta recalled the historic ties between Africa and the Island, ties that, he assured, will remain strong for many generations to come, until the end of time.

Cubans, he emphasized, learned to transform dreams into realities, to turn every challenge into victory and overcome adversities, with the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.

These three days of the VIII Meeting, he stressed, have witnessed the prevalence of the spirit of solidarity, focused not only on solidarity between Cuba and the African continent, but also with all the just and progressive causes of the world.

The meeting, he added, demonstrated that working together is, in fact, the only way to articulate our efforts to achieve concrete actions of solidarity.

We believe, Orta continued, that the success of the proposed actions will depend on our political will and the follow-up systems we need to create to systematically evaluate the results of our joint action plan.

He recalled the African term, Ubuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu, which translates in a way as «I am because you are». In fact, he added, there is no better way to demonstrate Ubuntu than solidarity, to share what you have, to stand up for those in need, to give to others because otherwise you are not complete.

In this way, thousands of Cuban collaborators have served in Africa, and thousands of young Africans have been trained in Cuba.

But there is something else, something intangible, he concluded, and that is the deep feelings of friendship and brotherhood between our peoples that make us feel at home on African soil, that make us feel like brothers and sisters, no matter where we are from.