Selaković: Cuba, a traditional friend, consistently supports Serbia in protecting its interests

Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selaković, summing up his visit to Cuba, expressed satisfaction with the fact that he began his Latin American and Caribbean tour with a visit to Cuba, especially considering that Serbia and Cuba were celebrating 120 years of diplomatic relations this year.

Selaković pointed out that the delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia was hosted at the highest level and that he had important and very good talks.

“I spoke with Vice President of Cuba Salvador Antonio Valdes Mesa, as well as with Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parilla, who is a great friend of the Serbian people and who proved this during his office in the UN, when our country was attacked in 1999,” said Selaković, adding that during his stay in Havana he also met with President of the National Assembly Juan Esteban Lazo Hernandez, Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz and Minister of Culture Alpidio Bautista Alonso Grau. Selaković also stated that he signed an agreement with the Minister of Culture on the establishment of direct relations between the National Library of Serbia and the National Library of Cuba.

Minister Selaković underlined that Cuba was Serbia's traditional friend, which faithfully and consistently supported Serbia in international forums as regards the protection of its territorial integrity and sovereignty, and helped it in the promotion and protection of its interests in the issue of Kosovo and Metohija in the entire Caribbean and the Latin American region.

“We will try to transfer the excellent political cooperation to some other fields as well, especially in the field of economy, and in this regard some specific deals have been agreed”, Selaković said and finally emphasised that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba Bruno Rodríguez Parilla expressed his intention to make a return visit to Belgrade as soon as possible.

In the following days Minister Selaković will visit Colombia, where he will attend the inauguration of new President of Colombia Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego as a special envoy of the President of Serbia. During his stay in Bogota, the Minister will meet with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia Leyva Duran, as well as with numerous high-ranking officials of the countries from this part of the world.

After Colombia, during the next week, Minister Selaković will pay official visits to Costa Rica and Venezuela.