HAVANA, Cuba (AFP):  Cuba next month will host a meeting of experts from 39 countries on how best to promote cultural diversity over cultural globalization, Cuba's Deputy Minister of Culture Rafael Bernal said Wednesday.

"We'll discuss the best way of putting into action the (2005) Convention" for the protection and promotion of cultural diversity of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization that 60 countries have ratified, he said.

For Cuba, among the first to sign the UNESCO convention, cultural diversity "is extremely important in the world we're now living in, where national cultures are under an increasingly vicious attack."

The Fifth International Congress on Culture and Development will gather some 600 academics, researchers and cultural promotors in Havana on June 11-14.