Visiting senior legislator Cheng Siwei on Tuesday praised the
friendly relations between China and Cuba in a lecture at the
University of Havana.
Cheng, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China's
National People's Congress (NPC), also highlighted China's swift
development to 300 students and teachers at the university.
He said that "frequent reciprocal visits by senior leaders from
the two nations have increased political confidence, swift
bilateral commerce and economic cooperation."
Cheng, who is also president of the China-Latin America
Friendship Association, said that both nations harbor hopes for
extending the friendly bilateral ties, and added that the two
socialist nations had jointly faced the historic challenge of
industrialization.
The Cuba-China relations have developed most swiftly since the
mid-1990s after the two countries first established diplomatic
relations in 1960.
During his lecture, Cheng noted that the total Chinese trade
volume was more than US$1.4 trillion in 2006, which includes US$762
billion in exports and US$660 billion in imports.
China has become the world's third largest trading nation, after
the US and Germany, said Cheng.
Other attendees included: Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuba's Interior
Minister; Ruben Zardoya, the University's chancellor; and Zhao
Rongxian, China's Ambassador to Cuba.
China currently has diplomatic relations with 21 Latin American
and Caribbean nations.
Cuba is the second leg of Cheng's travel to Latin America, which
has already taken him to Jamaica. He is headed for Venezuela on
Wednesday.
(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2007)
