Havana, March 17 (RHC) – Members of Cuban organizations and social actors gathered today in Havana to address eight main topics that will be on the agenda of the Civil Society Forum of the 7th Summit of the Americas, to be held April 10-11 in Panama City.

The call to the Cuban Civil Society forum “Thinking Americas” explains that one its main objectives is to raise suggestions and proposals to be submitted at the Panama gathering.

The eight topics for debate by Cuban civil society, which is made up of over 2,000 organizations and associations, are related to democratic governance, citizens´ participation, migration, security, energy, the environment, health and education, in coincidence with the Panama agenda.

All these topics will be grouped under the theme “Prosperity with Equity: the cooperation challenge in The Americas,” in tune with the central topic of the 7th Continental Summit, which will be attended for the first time by Cuba.

The forum will be the scenario to stress the supportive and humanistic nature of Cuban society and its cooperation with other nations of the world, and to denounce the aggressions perpetrated against the Cuban people and also the impact by the over-50-year US economic, financial and commercial blockade of the island nation.

The Thinking Americas forum will operate in four working teams headed by panels that will favor reflection on issues that will be later addressed in a plenary session. Each organization will have three representatives in the forum and the working teams will open sessions at the Casa de Las Americas cultural institution and at the gallery of the ALBA center, both in Havana.