Rome, May 21 (RHC)-- Cuban Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment Elba Rosa Pérez is in Italy, where she will conduct a three-day visit.

A statement by the Cuban embassy in Rome says Minister Perez traveled to Italy to participate in the third meeting of the Joint Commission set up between the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of Cuba and Italy's Ministry of Environment and Land and Sea Protection.

The parties are expected to review implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two institutions last July in Havana for cooperation on vulnerability to climate change, risk assessment, adaptation and mitigation. 

The Cuban minister is scheduled to meet with representatives of Italian science and environment institutions, among them the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection, and the Agency for Sustainable Development.

She will also present Cuba's National Plan of Response to Climate Change before the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Program, and the International Agricultural Development Fund.

The Cuban embassy in Rome said the visit is a sign of the willingness of both countries to expand cooperation in sectors of common interest, among them science and technology and the pressing issue of climate change.