Havana, June 30 RHC)-- Cuba ratified its commitment to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) during the meeting of national coordinators of that organization, held Wednesday virtually.

On Twitter, Deputy Foreign Minister Anayansi Rodriguez said the event was a prelude to the meeting of foreign ministers and the sixth Summit of Heads of State and Government of CELAC and reiterated her country's attachment to the founding principles of the mechanism.

Likewise, she ratified the support for the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, signed in January 2014 in the context of the second CELAC Summit, held in Havana.

The meeting of national coordinators was attended by the entire active membership and guests from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in the region, China, Russia, and the European Union.

In addition to addressing the issues to be discussed at the next meeting of foreign ministers and the Sixth Summit, ECLAC's Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcenas, spoke about the impact of Covid-19 in the area.

Bárcenas recalled that although 8.4 percent of the world's population is concentrated in this area, the pandemic is responsible for more than 20 percent of confirmed cases and 32.2 percent of deaths worldwide.

This is compounded by insufficient public spending on health in general and countries with fragmented, segmented, and under-financed health systems.