Cuban and Canadian Foreign Ministers meet in Havana

HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 29 (ACN) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez received on Wednesday Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, who is making a working visit to Cuba, the website Cubaminrex reported.

This meeting gives continuity to the exchange held between the two ministers in Havana on May 16 and in Toronto on June 7, within the framework of the bonds of friendship and cooperation that unite both nations.
The Cuban Minister thanked again the position taken by the Canadian government regarding the application of the Helms-Burton Act, as well as the traditional support to the resolution against the blockade that is approved every year in the General Assembly of the United Nations.
He took note of the return of some migratory services to the Canadian Embassy in Havana, at the same time that he advocated the prompt normalization of the operation of that diplomatic mission in correspondence with the level of bilateral relations.
Likewise, he reiterated that only serious and objective cooperation can contribute to the clarification of health conditions reported by Canadian diplomats.
During the meeting, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs exchanged views on the international situation, on which occasion the Cuban Minister reiterated Cuba's firm and invariable solidarity with Constitutional President Nicolás Maduro Moros, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the civil-military union of its people.
Rodríguez Parrilla urged support for the initiative of respectful dialogue with the Venezuelan government on the basis of the principles of International Law and the postulates of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, in particular the rejection of the use and threat of use of force, sovereign equality and non-interference in the internal affairs of States.
Addressing the current ecological emergency in the Amazon, the Cuban Minister referred to the need for regional and international cooperation to confront it, with full respect for the sovereignty of States and without conditioning or politicization.
He also explained the actions of the U.S. government against Cuba's international medical cooperation to sabotage this solidarity effort that benefits millions of the planet's most disadvantaged people and enjoys wide international recognition.
The distinguished visitor was accompanied by Vice Minister Michael Grant and the Canadian Ambassador to Cuba, Perry John Calderwood, along with other members of his delegation.
On the Cuban side, the general director of Bilateral Affairs, Emilio Lozada García; the general director of the United States, Carlos Fernández de Cossío; the general director of Latin America and the Caribbean, Eugenio Martínez Enríquez; the director of Political Affairs of the General Directorate of Multilateral Affairs and International Law, Mirta Granda Averhoff; the a.i. director of Europe and Canada, Julio Garmendía Peña, among other officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.