(EFE).- The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, received this Monday the Minister of State of Angola, Adao de Almeida, who is making an official visit to the island with the aim of strengthening bilateral economic cooperation.
During the meeting, Díaz-Canel and De Almeida discussed the state of political, economic and collaborative relations. In addition, the two leaders highlighted the historical nature of relations between the Island and the African country.
Díaz-Canel was accompanied by his adviser Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Callejas, a member of the senior leadership of the ruling Communist Party of Cuba; the deputy prime minister, Ricardo Cabrisas; the head of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca and the Vice Chancellor Anayansi Rodríguez.
The Angolan minister, who arrived in Havana last Saturday and will end his visit on Wednesday, said that “important aspects of the bilateral relationship” will be worked on.
De Almeida heads a delegation of senior officials from the areas of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Higher Education and Health. On this same day, the special envoy of the Angolan president, João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, also met with Cabrisas.
The official media highlighted the push that this visit wants to give to “economic-commercial” and “scientific-technical” cooperation, as well as the search for greater cooperation between the “big companies” of both countries.
The Angolan minister, who arrived in Havana last Saturday and will end his visit on Wednesday, stated that “important aspects of the bilateral relationship” will be worked on, the Cuban News Agency (ACN) wrote.
As part of the itinerary of his visit, De Almeida paid tribute to the Cubans who participated in their country’s independence struggles and honored the first president of Angola, Agostinho Neto, in the Parque de los Próceres Africanos in the island capital.
The African politician recalled that during his country’s war of independence, Cuba was “present with heart and soul.”
For his part, Cabrisas thanked the Angolan Minister of State for the visit and the vote of the African country in the United Nations General Assembly in favor of the resolution that demands the end of the US embargo.
Cuba and Angola established diplomatic relations on November 11, 1975. This close bond was marked by the participation of more than 300,000 Cuban soldiers in the civil war that took place in the African country between 1975 and 2002.
Cabrisas thanked the Angolan Minister of State for the visit and the vote of the African country in the United Nations General Assembly in favor of the resolution that demands the end of the US embargo
The Angolan President he officially apologized last year for the massacres in May 1977 after a split in the government Movement of the People for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which were committed with the support of Cuba and which resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. In addition, he announced that a procedure would be initiated to restore the memory of the deceased, which included the delivery of death certificates and the exhumation of bodies.
Cuba and Angola have developed cooperative relations in sectors such as health, construction, education, science and technology, agriculture, defense, energy and hydraulic resources.
However, the current president has reduced cooperation to the point that in December 2020 he had no problem rescinding a million-dollar contract with the Island due to non-compliance on the Cuban side.
The agreement had a value of 77 million dollars for the construction of 283 kilometers of highways, in addition to 375 meters of bridges, in the province of Bengo, which surrounds the country’s capital, Luanda, by the Cuban state company Imbondex.
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