On Wednesday night, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Havana for talks that will focus on promoting political, economic, educational and cultural cooperation. Previously, he visited Brazil, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
On Thursday, he is expected to meet with President Miguel Diaz-Canel, whom the Cuban parliament yesterday re-elected for a second five-year term.
“Russia-Cuba relations are excellent since both countries give them priority. They are also based on their peoples’ traditional friendship ties,” the Granma newspaper commented.
High-level political dialogue “has been valuable, friendly and aimed at promoting bilateral relations in all fields of mutual interest and benefit,” it added.
Currently, Russia is one of Cuba’s top ten trading partners, and both governments define their partnership as “strategic.”
📰 Article by Sergey #Lavrov 'Russia and Latin America: Forward-looking partnership and cooperation'.
✍️ For us, Latin America and the Caribbean is an area of foreign policy that is important in and of itself.
Read in full 👉 https://t.co/m9G9ZfcLci pic.twitter.com/HpXGOkBoeI
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) April 13, 2023
In 2022, Diaz-Canel traveled to Russia to hold a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, with whom he analyzed the development prospects of the Russian-Cuban strategic association.
In recent months, the Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, the Cuba-Russia Business Council President Titov Yurievich, and Rosneft Director Igor Sechin have traveled to this Caribbean country.
On his Latin America tour, Lavrov has met with presidents Lula da Silva (Brazil), Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua), and Nicolas Maduro (Venezuela).
During his stay in Caracas, he also spoke with Saint Vincent & the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and the Bolivian Foreign Affairs Minister Rogelio Mayta.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov began a tour of Latin America in Brazil that will last until 21 April and will include visits to Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. pic.twitter.com/RxOwzps65Z
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) April 19, 2023