Above: the signing ceremony in Mexico City (Photo: Embassy of Haiti in Mexico)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Haiti’s Embassy in Mexico and the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico have signed an agreement that will provide scholarships to a number of Haitian students.

Under the terms of the agreement, the university will commit to an annual quota of scholarships for students to come from Haiti to Mexico, particularly in the fields of small and micro-enterprises.

The agreement was signed this week by Haiti’s Ambassador to Mexico, Guy Lamothe, and UAEM Rector Eduardo Gasca Pliego.

Lamothe said the deal was evidence of Mexico’s “desire to assist Haiti,” particularly in education. Pliego said that there was increasing interest in Latin America in general and Mexico in particular to learn about the “cultural richness of Haiti.”

The university, which was founded in 1828, has more than 65,000 students.

For this year, the first three Haitian students began a degree programme in computer engineering.

The governments of Haiti and Mexico recently signed an agreement on a grant that would provide 300 scholarships for Haitian students in a number of academic disciplines.