Cuban President Fidel Castro will pay an official visit to Iran later this year, Cuban Vice-President Carlos Lage was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency on Monday.
Lage told an Iranian parliamentary delegation in Havana that preparations for Castro’s visit have been made but the exact date for his visit has not yet been set.
Havana is hosting the 105th Inter Parliamentary Union meeting which opened on Sunday.
Lage told the delegation that the visit will be in response to President Mohammed Khatami’s visit to Havana, adding that Castro’s visit will pave the way for further promotion of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
Lage, said IRNA, underlined the need for expansion of Iran-Cuba ties in order to “confront the policies of certain western countries.”
He praised the idea of Dialogue among Civilizations initiated by President Khatami, saying that “such initiatives are devices with which to fight the objectives of arrogant powers of the world.”
“While western powers, particularly the United States are determined to impose their culture, President Khatami's initiative may play a key role in confrontation with such policies,” the Cuban vice-president said.
“Both Iranian and Cuban nations had successfully resisted the expansionist policies of the US government,” he said, adding that the two nations could offer a model for cooperation to the third world countries – Albawaba.com
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