Diaz-Canel highlights solidarity and friendship between Italy and Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 19 (ACN) The solidarity and friendship between the people of Cuba and Italy give strength to the 120 years of diplomatic relations, said today Miguel Diaz-Canel, President of the Caribbean nation, upon his arrival in Rome, where he begins a program of visits that includes the Holy See, Italy and Serbia.

On Twitter, the head of state stressed that upon stepping on Italian soil he remembered with emotion and pride the Cuban health professionals who battled in the hard times of COVID-19 to save lives in the European country.

Diaz-Canel also included in his message an image of his reception at the Leonardo da Vinci airport by the plenipotentiary minister Umberto Vanni, from the Italian Foreign Ministry.

As reported by the Cuban Presidency on its website, for this Tuesday the President's agenda includes a private meeting with Pope Francis, which will be his fourth contact since he attended his inauguration as Supreme Pontiff in March 2013, at that time as First Vice-President of the Councils of State and Ministers.

Likewise, an exchange will take place on Tuesday between Diaz-Canel and his Italian counterpart, Sergio Mattarella, where they will reaffirm the historic and stable relations between Cuba and Italy (established since February 4, 1903) and the will to continue deepening bilateral ties, the Presidency refers.

On that day, the Cuban President will also pay a courtesy visit to the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu.

Italy is among Cuba's top 10 trading partners and has maintained a historic position against the U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba.

In 2020, in the midst of a severe COVID-19 health crisis in the Lombardy region of Italy, that nation was the first in Europe to request medical aid from Cuba, which, before the pandemic, was already established in 59 countries around the world.

For two months in the city of Crema, specialists from the Henry Reeve Contingent joined the efforts to contain the disease; and then a second brigade left for Piedmont, another of the regions of the country most affected by the effects of the pandemic.