Chinese premier meets with Cuban president

BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, who is also the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, on Friday in Beijing.

China and Cuba enjoy a profound traditional friendship and have always been committed to mutual trust and close coordination, Li said, adding that China has always attached great importance to developing China-Cuba ties and will continue, as always, to support Cuba in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions.

China is willing to make joint efforts with Cuba to intensify high-level exchanges, expand pragmatic cooperation in various fields, and will continue to support each other on issues of core interests and major concerns to push for new progress in China-Cuba ties, Li said.

He noted that China is ready to strengthen the synergy of development strategies and exchange of governance experience with Cuba, and will continue to provide assistance and support to Cuba within its capacity.

The two sides should make good use of cooperation mechanisms such as the economic and trade mixed committee to promote sustained growth of bilateral trade, deepen cooperation in traditional areas such as agriculture and infrastructure, and actively explore new areas of cooperation such as e-commerce and clean energy to achieve win-win results, Li said, adding that China welcomes more Cuban products to enter the Chinese market.

Diaz-Canel thanked China for providing strong support to Cuba in safeguarding national sovereignty and independence, working for economic and social development and fighting the epidemic.

He expressed willingness to deepen cooperation with China in key areas such as economy, trade, finance, fisheries, digital economy, clean energy and infrastructure to better cope with complex situations and severe challenges, and push bilateral relations to a new high.