• Submitted by: admin
• Politics and Government
• 06 / 28 / 2010

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In the evening of Sunday June 27, His Excellency Mr. Bachar Al Assad, president of the Syrian Arab Republic arrived in Cuba on an official visit, accompanied by a delegation comprising ministers and other officials.

He was received at the José Martí airport terminal by Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Marcos Rodríguez Costa; Ahmad Al Hariri, business attaché at the Syrian embassy, and other officials.

On this, his first visit to Cuba, the Syrian president is to hold high-level talks and carry out other activities on a program prepared in that context. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al Moualem; Mansour Azzam, minister of presidential affairs; and Bouthaina Shaaban, political and media advisor to the presidency, also form part of the delegation.

Cuba and Syria established diplomatic relations on August 11, 1965 and currently maintain excellent bilateral ties in the spheres of trade, culture and education.

To date, some 222 Syrian students have graduated in our country, of whom 215 were at a higher level and seven at middle level. There are currently 25 Syrian scholarship students in Cuba, of whom eight are studying to become healthcare professionals.

Syria plays an active role in the Non-Aligned Movement. At the United Nations, that nation has always voted in favor of the Cuban resolution to lift the blockade.

Situated in the Middle East, Syria shares borders with Turkey to the north, Jordan and Israel to the south, Iraq to the east and Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west.

It has a land surface of 185,180 km² and a population of 21,094,500 inhabitants.

By: Elson Concepción Pérez

Source: Translated by Granma International