• Submitted by: admin
• Culture and Traditions
• Havana
• History
• national
• Personalities
• Politics and Government
• 11 / 23 / 2009

---

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, who arrived in Havana on Sunday for an official visit at the invitation of his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, expressed on Monday his satisfaction with the good state of bilateral relations between his country and the Caribbean nation, 20 years after they were established.
    
During a meeting with Rodriguez Parrilla on Monday morning, Smith expressed his interest in further strengthening bilateral ties. “I want my visit to become an opportunity to re-launch our friendship and working relations,” referring to to his government’s plans to strengthen ties with Cuba, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Previously, the Cuban Foreign Minister thanked the visitor for Australia’s recent vote at the UN General Assembly in support of a Cuban resolution condemning the almost 50-year-old US economic, financial and commercial blockade of the island.

Rodriguez Parrilla added that he was also satisfied because Cuba and Australia share common views in some topics on the international agenda “particularly, with regard to climate change, free trade and freedom of navigation.”

This is the first visit to Cuba of an Australian Foreign Minister in the last 15 years.

Source: ACN