Member of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP) and of the Council of State, exchanged on Wednesday, at the National Capitol, with members of the Canada-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group (GPA) delegation visiting our country.
We ratify the will to expand and strengthen inter-parliamentary relations, said the head of the supreme organ of state power, while greeting the Canadian legislators.
Previously, Homero Acosta Álvarez, secretary of the ANPP, acknowledged the historic ties between Canada and Cuba, as well as the respect that has characterized the relationship between the two countries. In return, he expressed his gratitude for the traditional Canadian support at the UN for the Cuban resolution against the blockade imposed by the US government; and he especially noted the petition in the House of Commons calling on the Canadian government to request the US to lift the blockade against Cuba, as well as the withdrawal of the spurious list of alleged State sponsors of terrorism.
Acosta Álvarez also delved into other issues of the current national agenda, the characteristics of the 10th Legislature of the National Assembly and the parliamentary work in the Greater Antilles.
Gabriel St. Marie, co-chairman of the Canada-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group and vice-chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance of the House of Commons, said that new projects and opportunities for collaboration can be created with a view to continue strengthening ties between both peoples and legislative bodies. “I am really happy to be here, to be able to start strengthening these ties and the work program that we are developing these days”, he emphasized.
Also participating in the meeting on the Cuban side were Tamara Valido Benítez and Cristina Luna Morales, chairwomen of the Cuban Parliament's Services and Health and Sports Commissions; Alberto Núñez, vice-president of the ANPP's International Relations Commission; Joel Ortega Dopico, vice-president of the Cuba-Canada GPA; and Jesús Rafael Mora González and Sisay Caridad Poulout, director and official of International Relations of the Cuban legislature, respectively.
(National Assembly of People's Power)
