Havana (EFE).- The Canary Islands will seek to strengthen their relations with Cuba in a series of areas, especially in the area of trade and cooperation, the president of the autonomous community, Ángel Víctor Torres, explained on Monday.
The Canarian president advanced this initiative in statements to the Spanish media after meeting with the Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, in Havana, where he is on a working visit.
“We are going to do everything possible to strengthen ties between the Government of Cuba and the Government of the Canary Islands,” said Torres, who highlighted the similarities of both regions due to their insularity.
Specifically, both governments intend to launch “a working commission” that includes “the actions” planned by the two parties “not only in the short term, but also in the medium and long term” and that will address various issues, climate change and the sustainability of trade and tourism.
“We will work in that common and collective body of the two governments,” said the Canarian president.
He also explained that a document will be “distributed” to “be able to improve trade relations” between both countries and societies, “twinned by multiple ties.”
In addition to meeting with Malmierca, Torres met on Monday with Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas, participated in the inauguration of a seminar on youth employment and the economy within the Making History of the Canary Islands-Cuba forum, and visited the Casa Canaria Leonor Pérez Cabrera.
It is also expected that this afternoon he will meet with the country’s Vice President, Salvador Valdés Mesa, the Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, the Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso, and the Vice Minister of Tourism, María del Carmen Orellana.
The Canarian president began his visit to Cuba this Sunday with a trip to Cabaiguán, a small town in the center of the country, where he met with descendants of Canarians in the country.
Torres gave a small speech before several hundred people in Cabaiguán and then visited the Casa Canaria in this town, the Cuban city with the largest number of Canarian descendants. Cuba brings together the largest Canarian community abroad, with more than 65,000 registered people.
The visit to Cuba concludes this Tuesday, when Torres will travel to Venezuela to continue with the tour of the two Latin American countries with the largest community of Canarian descendants. EFE
