With the confirmed attendance of 14 Heads of State or Government, and more than 100 ministers, Cuba gets ready to hold the largest meeting on desertification and drought ever promoted by the United Nations (UN).

"The prestige and results reached by our country in the last 6 years made possible that Cuba was chosen to host the 6th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)," assured Cuban Science, Technology and Environment Minister Rosa Elena Simeon Wednesday.

The convention will be celebrated at the Havana Convention Center (Palacio de las Convenciones) from August 25 to September 5, 2003.

In announcing the event program, Simeon alerted that desertification affects one third of the earth's surface, leaving more than 4 billion hectares (9.884 billion acres) of nonproductive soils.

"We want to discuss the problems of desertification, poverty and food security," Simeon said, noting that the lion's share involves countries of the Third World, submitted for centuries to indiscriminate exploitation of their resources by industrialized nations.

According to Simeon, in the last 10 years in Latin America alone, the phenomenon has affected the equivalent of the territory of all Mexico, while on a worldwide level it would be equivalent to wiping India off the map.

The Conference is the first organized on an island and in the Caribbean and officially begins next Monday, with the work of its three Commissions: implementation of former agreements, science and technology and budget.

Starting on September 1, the high-level segment will begin, with the confirmed attendance of the Presidents and Prime Ministers from Jamaica, Barbados, Haiti, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Namibia, Lesotho, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Gambia, among others.

Twelve Vice-presidents, 83 ministers and 17 vice-ministers linked with desertification, 14 representatives from international organizations, and 13 NGO representatives have confirmed their attendance, Simeon stated.

"The first thing for the countries to do is to have the political will to fight desertification, because it is a global problem," said Simeon, for whom desertification is not only a financial problem.

The Convention to Combat Desertification has been ratified by 190 nations, leaving only Iraq and North Korea left to do so, said the Cuban minister, who expressed the pride the Cuban government for being the host of the event.