GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — Guyana will host a regional training centre for young people with disabilities according to an agreement signed here between Cuba and the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, Caricom Secretary-General Irwin LaRocque, and Cuba’s Ambassador to Guyana Julio Cesar Gonsalez Marchante have signed a Tripartite Cooperation and Technical Assistance Agreement for the establishment of a “Regional Training Centre for Development and Stimulation of Children, Adolescents and Young People with Special Educational Needs Associated with Disabilities”.

A Caricom Secretariat statement noted that the centre will use Cuba’s extensive experience to assist Caricom member States to meet the special-education needs associated with disabilities.

“The project came out of a proposal at the fifth Caricom-Cuba Summit, two years ago, that Cuba would cooperate with Caricom to create a training centre for the treatment of physical disabilities to assist physically challenged children and youths,” the statement noted.

It said that Caricom-Cuba summit came a year after a high-level ministerial meeting in Haiti in 2013 where the Petionville Declaration recommended specific national and regional actions to address the needs of people with disabilities.

 “This project emphasises the interest of all parties to address a very important social and humanitarian challenge facing the region. It aims to use Cuba’s extensive experience in this area to assist Caricom member States in improving the lives of a vulnerable sector of our population,” LaRocque said.