Esteban Lazo met with Vladimir Andreich

Minsk, Dec 3 (RHC) Belarus and Cuba should strengthen cooperation to deal with sanctions, said today the speaker of the House of Representatives of the Belarusian Parliament, Vladimir Andreichenko.

The parliamentary leader, who received the president of the National Assembly of People's Power (Cuban parliament), Esteban Lazo, on Saturday at the headquarters of the lower house of the Slavic nation, also noted the special ties of friendship between the two legislative bodies.

Andreichenko also praised the level of mutual support between Minsk and Havana in international inter-parliamentary organizations.

"This shows that solidarity and friendship are not empty words for Minsk and Havana," he stressed.

Later the speaker of the Cuban parliament met with the speaker of the Council of the Republic (Upper House) Natalia Kochanova, who asserted that there are all necessary conditions for the development of Belarusian-Cuban relations.

"Of course, trade and economic, political relations, good relations between the presidents of our countries are fundamental," said this legislator.

She also noted that, for the two countries "cooperation in the fields of science, education, medicine, and culture is very important."

Kochanova recalled that a joint Cuban-Belarusian commission on science and technology has been operating since 2016. "We have to hold a meeting of this commission shortly to develop a draft program of scientific, technological, and innovative cooperation, and possibly hold a competition of scientific-technological works," she concluded.

For his part, Lazo thanked the presidents of both chambers of the Belarusian legislature for their expressions of friendship and solidarity and stressed the importance of the good level of relations between the two nations, which are equally subject to sanctions by the Western powers.

The leader of the Cuban parliament also reaffirmed the importance of both legislatures working to boost trade and economic relations between Minsk and Havana.

He expressed the Cuban government's support for Belarus, a country also under restrictions, and criticized the campaign of interference in internal affairs by external political forces.

In reciprocity, the Belarusians condemned Washington's hostile policy regarding the presence of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade.

During the meeting, the Cuban delegation raised the idea of creating inter-parliamentary commissions to monitor the decisions taken at the executive level.

After the dialogue, a document of joint actions was signed to develop links with the Parliamentary Group for friendship between their peoples, as well as to carry out video conferences for greater systematization of contacts.

In addition, the Cuban representation placed a wreath in front of the Victory monument that alludes to the struggle against fascism during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).

Lazo will conclude his visit to Belarus next Sunday, the second stop of a tour that has already taken him to the Russian Federation and will culminate in Turkey. (Source: PL)