Havana, October 1 (RHC)-- Cuban First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel stressed the need to empower the island's cultural institutions, during a meeting with executives of the Cuban Artists and Writers’ Association, UNEAC.

The Cuban government official referred to the crucial role of cultural institutions in promoting civic and aesthetic values and work at a community level, where there are projects of important values co-existing with others that mirror patterns foreign to the interest of Cuban society.

The Cuban first vice president said that the current scenario in which Cuba fights to preserve its achievements and to advance towards prosperous and sustainable socialism, and in the face of strategies by the historic enemies of the revolution to erode values and principles, implies an integral approach of culture in all its complexity.

Diaz-Canel praised the efforts by the artists and writers to give continuity to the implementation of the accords of the 7th Congress of the association, held last April.

The meeting included presidents of provincial committees, Culture Minister Julian Gonzalez, as well as Abel Prieto, advisor to Cuban President Raul Castro and other officials.