Raul Castro Highlights Importance of China-CELAC Links

Raul Castro said this rise in ties will favor the progress of ambitious projects of cooperation, trade and investment.

Cuban President Raul Castro stated that a rise in relations between China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) will establish a mutual systematic dialogue, and defend the South’s interests.

Speaking at the meeting with leaders of China and the CELAC quartet, Raul Castro said this rise in ties will favor the progress of ambitious projects of cooperation, trade and investment, with a strong component of science, technology and innovation.

The CELAC quartet is comprised of Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, and Antigua and Barbuda.

The decision of the second summit of Latin American and Caribbean countries, held in Havana in January, to create the CELAC-China Forum gave a practical sense to efforts so that Latin America, the Caribbean and the Asian nation work to face the difficult conditions of today’s world, he pointed out.

The Cuban statesman highlighted the Declaration of Fortaleza, adopted during the recent summit of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), which described as transcendent, as it establishes the commitment to a just and equitable international order, based on the United Nations Charter.

He also stressed how the economic and social development of Latin America and the Caribbean offer a special potential to boost mutually beneficial ties.

Raul Castro stated that Latin American and Caribbean countries, with important mineral reserves, oil and a third of world drinking water reserve, have the challenge of working for the industrialization of those natural and agricultural resources, increase and diversify exports, especially good and services.

In case of Cuba, he said that more than 50 years of exchange with China has allowed us make progresses in the full development of an exemplary relationship, transcending the test of time.