Published on ShanghaiDaily.com (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/)
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200811/20081120/article_381346.htm
President Hu Jintao meets with former Cuban President Fidel Castro in Havana on Tuesday.
President Hu Jintao meets with former Cuban President Fidel Castro in Havana on Tuesday.
China offers aid, trade to Cubans
Created: 2008-11-20 2:18:12
CHINA has agreed to put off some of Cuba's debt payments and gave about US$80 million for Cuban hospital modernization and other projects during President Hu Jintao's two-day visit to the Caribbean country.
Hu met on Tuesday with former Cuban President Fidel Castro and his brother, President Raul Castro, and signed deals to provide aid for Cuba - battered by three hurricanes and the effects of the global economic crisis.
The two countries signed accords on Tuesday that put off for 10 years payments for an unspecified trade debt Cuba ran up through 1995, and for five years a US$7.2 million credit China granted in 1998.
Cuba suffered US$10 million losses from hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma this year.
The two countries signed a dozen accords on Monday calling for, among other things, China to continue buying Cuban sugar and nickel and to provide agricultural products. China is Cuba's second-largest trading partner after Venezuela, with bilateral trade reaching US$2.3 billion in 2007.
China buys 400,000 tons of sugar from Cuba each year and close to half its annual output of 75,000 tons of nickel, which is Cuba's top export.
Accompanying Hu on a visit to a school for Chinese students learning Spanish on Tuesday, Raul Castro was in such good spirits as he led 200 of the students in an impromptu sing-along of a Chinese song about late Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
He said he learned "The East is Red" from a Chinese delegate at a youth rights conference in Austria in 1953. "I don't have the memory that Fidel has, but I remember that song," he said.
Hu and Fidel Castro held "a long conversation in a sincere and friendly atmosphere."
"I see in person that you have recovered and have been energetic, so I feel very pleased," Hu told the 82-year-old Castro. "Your thoughts and experience will surely guide the Cuban people to continue their march on the road of socialist construction."
Castro replied: "We are old friends. I am happy to see that you are as energetic as when I met you last time."
Hu met with Castro during his first visit to Cuba in 2004.
Hu hailed China-Cuba relations, which he said have been developing smoothly ever since Cuba established diplomatic ties with China in 1960, the first among Latin American nations.
The Chinese president noted that trade between China and Cuba has increased rapidly, and cooperation in investment, energy, agriculture, and biotechnology is proceeding smoothly.
Hu concluded his visit to Cuba yesterday and left for Lima, Peru. He will attend the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Organization meeting in Lima this weekend.
Hu met on Tuesday with former Cuban President Fidel Castro and his brother, President Raul Castro, and signed deals to provide aid for Cuba - battered by three hurricanes and the effects of the global economic crisis.
The two countries signed accords on Tuesday that put off for 10 years payments for an unspecified trade debt Cuba ran up through 1995, and for five years a US$7.2 million credit China granted in 1998.
Cuba suffered US$10 million losses from hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma this year.
The two countries signed a dozen accords on Monday calling for, among other things, China to continue buying Cuban sugar and nickel and to provide agricultural products. China is Cuba's second-largest trading partner after Venezuela, with bilateral trade reaching US$2.3 billion in 2007.
China buys 400,000 tons of sugar from Cuba each year and close to half its annual output of 75,000 tons of nickel, which is Cuba's top export.
Accompanying Hu on a visit to a school for Chinese students learning Spanish on Tuesday, Raul Castro was in such good spirits as he led 200 of the students in an impromptu sing-along of a Chinese song about late Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
He said he learned "The East is Red" from a Chinese delegate at a youth rights conference in Austria in 1953. "I don't have the memory that Fidel has, but I remember that song," he said.
Hu and Fidel Castro held "a long conversation in a sincere and friendly atmosphere."
"I see in person that you have recovered and have been energetic, so I feel very pleased," Hu told the 82-year-old Castro. "Your thoughts and experience will surely guide the Cuban people to continue their march on the road of socialist construction."
Castro replied: "We are old friends. I am happy to see that you are as energetic as when I met you last time."
Hu met with Castro during his first visit to Cuba in 2004.
Hu hailed China-Cuba relations, which he said have been developing smoothly ever since Cuba established diplomatic ties with China in 1960, the first among Latin American nations.
The Chinese president noted that trade between China and Cuba has increased rapidly, and cooperation in investment, energy, agriculture, and biotechnology is proceeding smoothly.
Hu concluded his visit to Cuba yesterday and left for Lima, Peru. He will attend the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Organization meeting in Lima this weekend.
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