Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly of People's Power, and Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), met on Monday to discuss the strengthening of bilateral relations.

 

Alarcon said the bilateral ties were historically at its prime, and the cooperation in all sectors were bearing fruits, adding that he hoped such a relationship would be further reinforced.

 

Cheng extended greetings to Alarcon from Wu Bangguo, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, and expressed appreciation for Alarcon's contribution to China's efforts to recover its UN membership when he served as Cuba's UN representative in the 1970s.

 

Cuba is the second leg of Cheng's travel to Latin America, which already took him to Jamaica. He is headed for Venezuela on Wednesday.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2007)