• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 11 / 15 / 2010

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Amid a cholera epidemic spreading to earthquake-shattered Port-au-Prince, Norway and Cuba signed an agreement in Havana Oct. 28 under which the Scandinavian country contributes 5 million Norwegian kronor ($850,000) to Cuban relief efforts.

The agreement was signed at the Cuban ministry of foreign trade and investment, by Deputy Minister Ramón Ripoll Díaz and Norwegian Ambassador Jan Tore Holvik.

Cuba will use the Norwegian contribution — the second after a $850,000 check in January — for the purchase of drugs and medical equipment for its 930-member medical brigade in Haiti.

On Friday, reinforcements for the medical brigade arrived in Port-au-Prince. In late October, Cuban authorities were considering sending an additional 150 medical workers to Haiti, according to the Norwegian embassy.

During a recent visit to Oslo, Deputy Foreign Minister Dagoberto Rodríguez expressed Cuba’s interest to increase cooperation in Haiti. The two governments are also considering cooperation in natural disaster prevention and response; a Cuban expert delegation visited Norway in September.

The latest contribution is apparently separate from a Cuban-led $600 million program to rebuild Haiti’s healthcare system. That program is funded by Venezuela, Brazil, and — indirectly — the United States and France.

In September, Haitian Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner signed an agreement in New York under which the United States and France equally contribute to the $50 million reconstruction of the Haiti State University Hospital in Port-au-Prince. The only reference made to Cuba during the signing event in New York was Kouchner’s remark that ”the structure and the materials necessary and the functioning of the hospital would be taken care of by others.”

Cuba’s medical expertise in disaster and poverty zones is unique in the world. An increasing number of wealthier countries outsource their aid efforts to Cuba.

Source. /www.cubastandard.com/2010/11/14/norway-funding-cuban-relief-efforts-in-haiti/