Cuban president on first visit to Nam

CUBAN president Army General Raúl Castro Ruz arrives in Namibia for a short state visit on Sunday afternoon accompanied by Cabinet Ministers and other senior officials.

It is his first visit to Namibia.Castro travelled to Africa on Tuesday and visited Algeria and then Egypt, where he opened the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which has 118 members, including Namibia. Cuba transferred the rotating NAM presidency to Egypt at the summit, which ended on Thursday.Castro Ruz will hold talks with President Hifikepunye Pohamba after his arrival – which will be followed by bilateral consultations between delegations.On Sunday night, a state banquet will be held in Castro’s honour. Before departing on Monday morning, Castro will lay a wreath at Heroes Acre.According to the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Namibia and Cuba have had a long and fraternal relationship, which dates back to Namibia’s liberation struggle. ‘The bonds of solidarity and friendship between Namibia and Cuba are written in blood and share a vision for a peaceful and just world,’ the Ministry said in a statement. After Independence, Namibia-Cuban relations witnessed a new chapter marked by the signing of several bilateral agreements, such as the agreement on the establishment of the Joint Commission for Economic, Scientific, Technical and Trade Co-operation. New areas of co-operation were identified during the tenth session of the Joint Commission in Havana last month.Among others, these include co-operation in health, youth, national service, sport and culture, education, agriculture and forestry, lands and resettlement, trade and investment, regional and local government, mines and energy, fisheries, gender equality and child welfare, works and transport, meteorology, tourism, science and technology and environment. Cuba has been providing continuous support to Namibia by availing health professionals and awarding scholarships for Namibian students to study in Cuba. At present, there are about 143 Cuban health professional seconded to Namibia. Meanwhile, about 130 Namibian students are currently studying in many institutions in Cuba.