Jakarta, June 6th, 2018. The Secretary General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi conveyed his congratulations to the newly elected President of the Councils of State and Ministers of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez during an interview held today with the Ambassador of the island Nirsia Castro Guevara. The high official also expressed his deep condolences to the Cuban people and government for the tragic plane crash that occurred on May 18th in Havana.
During the meeting the Ambassador communicated to the Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi the her government´s appreciation of the successes achieved by ASEAN in its 50 years of existence and Cuba's interest in sharing experiences with the organization in areas such as public health, preparation of human resources and natural disaster management. The diplomat also conveyed to the high representative of ASEAN the gratitude of her government for the maintained support by the member states of the organization and by ASEAN itself to the Resolution in demand of the lifting of the economic and commercial blockade maintained by the U.S.A against Cuba for almost 60 years.
Lim Jock Hoi referred to ASEAN's rejection of unilateral sanctions against states, praised the results achieved by the island in public health, education and active cooperation provided to countries in other regions such as Africa, and pronounced himself in favor of developing cooperation in areas of mutual interest.