SPEAKER OF ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT AND CUBAN AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA DISCUSSED ISSUES OF ARMENIAN-CUBAN COOPERATION

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 29 2006

Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Tigran Torosyan and Cuban Ambassador
to Armenia Jorge Martinez discussed the issues of the Armenian-Cuban
cooperation, Wednesday.

The Armenian parliamentary press-service told the ArmInfo news agency
that the Ambassador emphasized Cuba’s interest in activation of
the Armenian-Cuban cooperation and gave T.Torosyan the invitation
of Chairman of the Cuban Parliament to pay an official visit to
that country. J.Martinez also thanked Armenia for supporting Cuba
while discussing the issue of economic sanctions in international
structures. He also stressed the necessity of increasing the volumes
of bilateral commodity turnover and establishing joint ventures.

Presenting the economic development of Cuba, J.Martinez noted that
the sugar production is no longer a priority in the Cuban economy;
now tourism, production of nickel and oil, bio-technology, and
production of medicaments rank first. For studying the prospects of
cooperation in these spheres, an agreement on Armenian entrepreneurs’
visit to Cuba has already been reached, the Ambassador said. He also
noted that in December, Cuba will mark the 50th anniversary of the
revolution and the 80th jubilee of President Fidel Castro.

In his turn, T.Torosyan emphasized that there have never been any
contradictions between Cuba and Armenia, and the two countries are
separated only by a long distance. He said that the two countries have
historic commonness which is a good basis for deepening the bilateral
cooperation. The Speaker stressed that people of Cuba have been the
symbol of liberty and heroism. He said that Armenia knows very well
what a blockade is, and emphasized that these problems should be
solved by means of negotiations in compliance with international
legal norms. T.Torosyan also wished good health to the legendary
Cuban leader.