Syrian President Visits Cuba

Havana, Jun 28. -The president of the Syrian Arab Republic, Bachar Al Assad, arrived in Cuba for an official visit, as part of a Latin America tour that has taken him to Venezuela and includes Argentina and Brazil.

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Marcos Rodriguez Acosta welcomed the Syrian statesman on Sunday at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport.

According to his three-day agenda, Bachar Al Assad expects to meet on Monday with Cuban President Raul Castro, and to lay a wreath at the monument to Cuban national hero Jose Marti in the capital's Revolution Square. Assad's visit is in line with the close links in trade and collaboration on education and health, and the relations of friendship and solidarity between the two countries since Damascus and Havana established diplomatic ties in August 1965.

More than 200 young Syrians have earned degrees in Cuba, and 25 are now studying on the island, eight of them medical students.

Both countries, members of the Non-Aligned Movement, have expressed concern over the tense situation the Middle East due to the escalation of U.S. and Israeli provocations against regional countries.

Assad is accompanied by Walid Al Moualem, foreign minister; Mansour Azzam, minister of presidential affairs, and Bouthaina Shaaban, policy and media advisor to the president. (Prensa Latina)