Havana, September 16 (RHC) -- Belize's Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde said Friday that the blockade imposed by the U.S. government against Cuba is an affront to all the peoples of the world.

What Cuba does is to give and give to its brothers and sisters in other countries through doctors, nurses, scholarships, sports, culture and technology, said the Minister of Natural Resources, Petroleum and Mining, who stressed that the Caribbean island occupies a special place in the hearts of many nations.

Speaking at the Summit of the Group of 77 (G77) and China, which held its first of two days in Havana on Friday, Hyde said that the siege maintained by Washington for more than 60 years must end, and that all developing countries must work for that to happen.

In the context of the meeting, whose theme is Current Development Challenges: the role of science, technology and innovation, the Belizean deputy prime minister said that the possibility of a more equitable world is affected by the existence of immoral and coercive blockades that are barriers to progress.

During his speech, he referred to the challenges and obstacles facing the global south such as the digital divide and brain drain, and urged territories to combine their ingenuity and energies, channel them as a unit and work together to "do what others will not do for us."

Hyde recalled the past of many of the G77 nations and China, battered for centuries by slavery and colonialism, and called for a collective effort to close the gap they now face with developed states.

One country alone cannot do it, but together, our 134 members, we can, he added in reference to the number of members of the group, which represent 80 percent of the planet's population. (Source: Prensa Latina).