Over 2 million people in Havana to benefit from UAE-WFP deal at $272,000

03 / 09 / 2019

By Marwa Nassar -

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a cooperation agreement, worth more than $272,000, to continue supporting the response and recovery efforts initiated by the Cuban authorities following a tornado that hit Havana last January.

“It is an honor for us to work together with the WFP office in Havana with the aim of addressing this challenging situation,” said the UAE Ambassador, Bader Almatrooshi. “We look forward to the benefits that this collaboration will bring to the Cuban people.”

The tornado destroyed the grain unloader that serves ships at the José Antonio Echeverría pier in the municipality of Regla. The UAE-WFP agreement will allow the purchase of a new grain unloader.

At the signing ceremony of the agreement and on behalf of the Government of Cuba, Carlos Fidel Martín, Director of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, thanked the UAE and WFP for their solidarity with the people of Havana.

The WFP Representative in Cuba, Paolo Mattei, acknowledged the generous contribution of the UAE government. “The installation of the new cereal unloader will support the Cuban food industry to reach previous levels of wheat flour and bread production, which benefits more than two million people in the country,” said Mattei.

This operation is part of the action plan launched by the United Nations System in Cuba following the tornado in Havana on 27 January 2019. The tornado left six people dead, 200 wounded and 8,000 homes affected.

After the tornado, WFP distributed some 190 tons of food (rice, beans and oil) to 11,258 families in the municipalities of Regla, Diez de Octubre, Guanabacoa, Cerro, Habana del Este and Marianao.