The Twenty-second Meeting of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CCTD) of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations takes place from May 13 to 17 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Commission for Science and Technology for Development is a subsidiary organ of ECOSOC established in 1992 with the purpose of providing the General Assembly with high-level advice to develop policies and agree on actions aimed, among others, at the promotion of sustainable development. The CCTD consists of 43 member states elected by ECOSOC for a term of 4 years. Cuba is a member of that body until 2022.

The Cuban delegation is represented by Ambassador Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta, Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations Office in Geneva and other international organizations based in Switzerland, Lester Delgado, Counselor of the Permanent Mission of Cuba in Geneva, Juan Fernández González, advisor to the Ministry of Communications and Joel Suárez Orozco, Third Secretary of the General Directorate of Multilateral Affairs and International Law of MINREX.

The Cuban delegation intervened in the debates on Science, Technology and Innovation for Development. In a speech delivered by Joel Suárez Orozco, the growth of the digital divide between developed and developing countries was denounced. It was called to reverse the prevailing unjust international economic order and to develop public frameworks for the transfer of technologies.

In addition, the declaration denounced the recent decision of the United States Government to adopt new measures of aggression against Cuba with the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which aggravates the extraterritorial effect of the blockade, attempts to prevent foreign investment in Cuba. and constitutes an aggression to intensify the economic and financial siege that looms over Cuba.