Pretoria, May 21 (PL/RHC) – Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Marcelino Medina is in South Africa to mark 20 years of bilateral cooperation. Events on the occasion have been scheduled for the cities of Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Cuba and South Africa established diplomatic relations in May of 1994. For 20 years now, they have been having and expanding a bilateral cooperation program. South Africa currently receives Cuban assistance through joint programs in areas like healthcare, labor, social development and infrastructure.

Cuba’s cooperation with South Africa free from apartheid began in 1996 with the arrival of the first group of Cuban health professionals. But the history of that assistance can be traced to the early 1960s, when South Africans first began to receive in Cuba training in medicine and other sciences. To date, more than 500 South Africans from disadvantaged backgrounds have graduated as medical doctors in Cuba.

The South Africa-Cuba relations also extend to the struggle against colonialism and apartheid, to whose defeat Cuba made a well-known contribution.