Cuba was seen as a key partner in pursuit of government's identified domestic priorities. Various bilateral agreements in the fields of science and technology, health, trade and industry, arts and culture, education were some of the many which were in place with Cuba. South Africa was a beneficiary of Cuba's on-going assistance in the form of scholarship for the youth. Currently, there were close to 1400 South African students studying medicine in Cuban universities. A total of 323 South African graduates from the Cuban programme worked as medical doctors in various South African hospitals.