HAVANA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The 24th meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum will be held in Cuba in July to discuss the region's "urgent issues" and agree on "political concertation," said the organizing committee of the event on Wednesday.
More than 100 political parties and leftist groups, as well as Latin American social movements will attend the meeting.
In a press conference, Idalmis Brooks, an official with the international relations department of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), said the meeting will seek greater union among left-wing organizations across the continent.
The event will be held in Havana between July 15-17 and will be organized by the PCC. It will be dedicated to the legacy of Cuban historical leader, Fidel Castro, and to the current challenges facing leftist and socialist governments in the current regional context.
"One of the special moments of the meeting will be the plenary session on Fidel's ideas and the Sao Paulo Forum, in order to recall his thought of bringing together the peoples of the region," she said.
Brooks said this meeting will be held 25 years after the 4th edition of the forum in Havana in 1993, when Castro had urged for progress, unity and integration.
"Our union is the only possible way for our countries to move forward against the offensive of right-wing groups and neoliberalism," she stated.
Among the important moments of the event, Brooks explained there would be a plenary against colonialism and anti-imperialist solidarity and peace, as well as a school of political training, and meetings of youth, women and Latin American lawmakers.
The official said prime ministers from a number of Caribbean nations, as well as former Latin American presidents, and other political figures from the region had been invited to the meeting.
Furthermore, Brooks revealed that, for the first time, the Sao Paulo Forum would open up to parties of the European left, in order to promote inclusion and a more open debate globally.
The Sao Paulo Forum was founded by the Workers' Party of Brazil (PT) and adopted the name of the city where it met for the first time in July 1990.
