“We have high expectations for this visit”declared the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudezat the moment of arrival at the Democratic and People’s Republic of Algeriain accordance with an official visit here which will last from November 16th to 19th.
At ten o’clock in the morning in the capital of the Maghreb state – four o’clock in the afternoon in Havana – the plane carrying the President and the official delegation accompanying him landed. It was almost nine hours of flight, during which 4,482 kilometers were covered.
At the Houari Boumediene International Airport in Algiers, the Cuban President, along with his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza, was received at the foot of the aircraft stairs by Aiman Benabderrahmane, the Algerian Prime Minister, as well as by the Heads of Health and Culture, Abdelhak Saihi and Soraya Mouloudji .
As part of the welcome ceremony, which included the usual greetings, President Díaz-Canel was invited to walk the red carpet and inspect the troops. The moment included bowing to the national flags of both countries and greeting the Chief of the Republican Guard.
Minutes later, a meeting between the high-level delegation and their hosts took place in the airport’s Protocol Hall of Honour. There, Díaz-Canel Bermúdez recalled that Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz and Army General Raúl Castro Ruz have been to Algerian soil more than once; and that Cuba began there its long history of cooperation with numerous nations on health issues.
In the same order, the head of state stressed that the Greater Antilles was precisely the first country in Latin America to establish diplomatic relations with Algeria; and stressed the coincidence that this visit comes in the year of the 60th anniversary of these bilateral relations.
There are many reasons, emphasized the President, “that we are very happy to be here”. He also assured that Cuba is accompanied by the will and desire to further consolidate “our good relations”.
The nation that will receive the dignitary is the first of three others that Díaz-Canel will visit as part of an intense international tour during which, according to the head of state on his account on the social network Twitter, when leaving Havana they will address «fundamental issues for our country, which are fundamentally related to the electric power sector».
Regarding his trip through Algeria, Russia, Turkey and China – where he will arrive on official invitations from the leaders of these countries – the Cuban President wrote on Twitter that “after two years under the influence of COVID-19, we are crossing the border again have crossed the Atlantic.” He similarly shared details of the tour program, the design of which “responds to Cuba’s political and economic priorities, as well as efforts to mitigate the effects of a post-pandemic crisis sweeping the entire world and, in our case, through which is exacerbated Effects of the United States blockade”.
Accompanied by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, the official delegation visiting that nation is made up of Politburo member and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla; Deputy Prime Minister and Head of Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil Fernández; and Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, Minister for Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment; José Angel Portal Miranda, Minister of Health; and Vicente de la O Levy, Minister of Energy and Mines.
The working agenda on Algerian soil includes, among other things, the exchange of the dignitary with his host counterpart; a meeting with staff from the Cuban Medical Brigade and members of the island’s State Mission; as well as visiting places of cultural and historical importance of this nation.
This is the first time that Díaz-Canel, as head of state, has visited a country that is a member of the African Union. The last at this level was in 2015, when Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, then President of the Councils of State and Ministers, also came to this friendly nation.