Regional
Headquarters, Jamaica. January 22, 2020.
The historic moment finally arrived on December 11, 2019, when The
University of the West Indies (The UWI) and the University of Havana
(UH) signed an agreement to establish a new and innovative, joint
Institute for the Sustainable Development of the Caribbean. For some
30 years, the two universities collaborated on the margins of their
respective mandates, occasionally exchanging students and promoting
collaborative research projects in areas of mutual interests.

“But the time
came”, said Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary
Beckles, “to elevate these relationships to the highest possible
professional level, by creating the institutional context for formal,
top quality research collaboration to promote the sustainable,
economic and cultural development of the people of the Caribbean.”
He explained that driving the diplomatic initiative to deepen the
bond between the people of CARICOM and Cuba through the research of
their respective universities, was a top priority of his
administration, and the considerable time invested in securing the
agreement “was an honour and pleasure.”

The agreement was
struck when President of the University of Havana, Professor Miriam
Nicado García, a distinguished Mathematician, and the first
Afro-Cuban to head the 200-year-old university, hosted
Vice-Chancellor Beckles and his UWI team in Havana, Cuba. That team
included Ambassador Gillian Bristol, Director of The UWI’s Latin
American–Caribbean Centre (LACC), who was key in developing the
project. Together, The UWI and UH conceptualised, coordinated and
finalised the operations of the joint research institute, whose
mandate is to promote innovation and scientific application in three
broad areas of regional development — application of medical
research and innovations in critical areas of public health, such as
diabetic foot amputation, invasive eye treatment, and cancer studies;
scientific research into Caribbean natural products, and the
industrialisation of research findings; and promotion of Caribbean
culture and tourism, social justice issues, and commercial
development in the area of cultural industries.

These three broad
pillars of collective engagement, President Nicado García noted,
“will integrate research, scholarship, and strategic planning for
transformational development that will benefit CARICOM and Cuba,
while expanding the important role to be played by universities in
the sustainable growth of the region.”

Vice-Chancellor
Beckles conveyed his gratitude to Ambassador Bristol for her
leadership on The UWI’s behalf. He commended President Nicado
García, for the excellent physical facilities made available to The
UWI-UH Institute within the historic campus of the University of
Havana, adding that researchers and scholars at The UWI would be
excited and stimulated to make full use of them.

Pro Vice-Chancellor
and Campus Principal of The UWI, Mona Campus, Professor Dale Webber
indicated his delight to have—within The UWI system—the joint
institute centred at the Mona campus and placed under the guidance of
two of its distinguished scholars: Professor Michael Taylor, Dean of
the Faculty of Science and Technology, and Dr Tomlin Paul, Dean of
the Faculty of Medical Sciences