• First country to contribute to the nutritional support program for
                   vulnerable communities in Cuba’s five eastern provinces

                   GERMAN Valdivia, Cuban representative for the UN World Food
                   Program (WFP), stated that Germany is the first country to have
                   come forward to finance the agency’s new nutritional support project
                   for vulnerable groups in the island’s five eastern provinces.

                   Valdivia added that the German government has announced its
                   contribution for this and next year and revealed that other countries
                   are to join the program approved in February by the WFP executive.
                   The program is aimed at assisting the Cuban government’s efforts to
                   guarantee a minimal and balanced diet for kindergarten and
                   elementary school pupils and to increase their learning capacity by
                   providing food complements enriched with micro-nutrients.

                   The WFP representative made the announcement during the formal
                   signing of a letter of understanding at the Ministry of Foreign
                   Investment and Economic Cooperation for the loan of German
                   technical assistance at an agricultural training college in the eastern
                   province of Granma with the participation of consultants from the
                   German GTZ technical cooperation agency, which enjoys worldwide
                   prestige. Using funds allocated to the program by the German
                   government, the agency will finance technical assistance by sending
                   GTZ consultants to give courses on management, marketing and
                   business administration, among others.

                   Bernd Wulffen, German ambassador in Cuba, affirmed that the
                   proposal outlined by the UN agency representative for German
                   participation in the project is a signal of friendship from his country.
                   He mentioned that various German public figures have recently
                   visited Cuba, demonstrating that friendship and a desire to cooperate
                   with the island.

                   "We would also like to insert ourselves in cooperative structures and
                   schemes in the eastern provinces, which I will visit to show my
                   personal interest in the development of those territories," he
                   concluded.