The Secretary-General of the Organisation of Southern Cooperation (OSC), Manssour Bin Mussallam, participated in the International Forum of Rectors and Academic Leaders on “The Sustainability of Higher Education”, held in Havana, Cuba, as part of the 2nd International Scientific Convention Saber UH 2025, convened by the University of Havana from 26 to 30 May.
During the Forum’s opening ceremony, the Secretary-General delivered a keynote speech alongside the Cuban Minister of Higher Education, Dr Walter Baluja García; the Rector of the University of Havana, Dr Miriam Nicado García; and the Director of the UNESCO Havana Regional Office, Anne Lemaistre.
In his remarks, the Secretary-General underscored the urgent need to translate South-South cooperation into tangible, mutually beneficial partnerships rooted in equity. He reaffirmed the centrality of regional integration as a strategic pillar of a Third Way of Development: one driven by endogenous solutions, Balanced and Inclusive Education systems, transdisciplinary research, and development that strengthens sovereignty based on the collective aspirations of the peoples of the Greater South.
“We must guarantee greater academic and student mobility across our three Southern continents—not only to enrich learning and advance research, but because wherever a young woman studies, wherever a researcher works, even if only for six months, a sustainable bridge is built between our nations,” the Secretary-General emphasised.
On the margins of Saber UH 2025, and with the aim of reinforcing ties between the Organisation and the host country, the Secretary-General held fruitful meetings with the Director-General for Multilateral Affairs and International Law at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Ambassador Juan Antonio Quintanilla; the Vice Minister of Culture, Fernando Leon Jacomino; the Director for Africa and the Middle East at the Centre for International Policy Research, Ambassador Rodobaldo Isasi; as well as with the Executive Director of the Group for International Cooperation of Brazilian Universities (GCUB), Dr Rossana Valeria de Sousa. The OSC and GCUB have jointly offered 400 postgraduate scholarships to students from OSC Member States to study free of charge at Brazilian universities.
At the closing ceremony of the 2nd International Scientific Convention, the Secretary-General was one of the guests of honour, alongside high-level international and national delegations, at the ceremony in which the University of Havana awarded an honorary doctorate in literature to Dr Luis García Montero, director of the Cervantes Institute.
