The Bahamian government has signed an agreement with Cuba to establish cultural ties, including the creation of a student exchange program.
The minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Daniel Johnson, signed the accord with Cuban Culture Minister Julian Gonzales in Santiago de Cuba, the Bahamian government said in a statement.
The signing coincided with a visit to the eastern city by a Bahamian delegation of 300 craft makers, musicians and Junkanoo artists as special guests of honor at the Festival of Fire, which will end July 9.
Johnson said the agreement with Cuba is part of the Bahamas’ plans to export its culture to the world, while student exchange programs among the College of The Bahamas, the University of Santiago and the University of Havana will advance “the promotion, protection and documentation of all our great cultural history.”
“People want to know who we are and it’s my hope that we will develop a traveling show to show them exactly who we are. The world wants to know and it’s time for us to show them,” the minister said.
The Bahamas, an archipelago of some 700 islands and cays, has a population of more than 300,000 inhabitants.
