Raul Meets in Paris with Top French Officials

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 3 (acn) Army General Raul Castro, President of the Cuban councils of State and Ministers met on Tuesday with high-ranking officials in Paris, on the last day of a state visit to France.

A report by Prensa Latina points out that the head of state held exchanges with the president of the National Assembly of France Claude Bartolone; Senate President Gerard Larcher; the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and Prime Minister Manuel Valls.
The Cuban president began the day with a meeting with UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova at the headquarters of the organization in the French capital. They stressed the excellent progress of relations between the Caribbean nation and that institution, the creation of which will mark its 70th anniversary in 2017.
After these exchanges, Raul paid a visit to the Museum of Man, which recently completed remodeling.
Outside the Museum, friends of the Caribbean island expressed their solidarity, waving Cuban flags and chanting long live Cuba! when they saw the president gathered.
Raul Castro and the French President, Francois Hollande, reaffirmed on Monday their willingness to strengthen bilateral relations.
Today we open a new page in ties between both countries, Hollande said during a joint statement from the Elysee Palace.
He referred to the signing of a bilateral economic route sheet in sectors such as tourism and transport, while adding that the French nation is among the major trading partners of the island.
The Head of State stressed that all this was made possible by the agreement reached on December 12 between Cuba and the Paris Club concerning the treatment of the Cuban debt.
We want to go further in bilateral relations, boosting a great cultural cooperation, university exchanges. The French Development Agency is working on identifying projects that can be boosted, he added.
For his part, Raul Castro highlighted that the two countries are linked by historic and cultural ties, and by deep bonds of friendship.
This is the first state visit of a Cuban leader to France and a member nation of the European Union. It reaffirms the excellent state of relations and reflects the shared willingness to strengthen political dialogue at the highest level, he stated.
He said the bilateral economic agenda signed represents an important joint mechanism for the production, monitoring and promotion of commercial-economic ties for cooperation and investment, in the medium and long term.