Chongqing- The Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to China, Mr. Carlos Pereira, and his wife arrived at Chongqing’s Jiangbei International Airport Tuesday morning on a three-day official visit to promote exchanges in trade, medicine, education, and tourism.
Ambassador and his wife, local government officials, representatives of Universities, enterprises, and institutions attending the conference.
A reception conference was later held by the Chongqing Municipal Government Foreign Affairs’ Office where local government officials extended a warm welcome to the couple and the ambassador himself gave a brief presentation on Cuba’s economy, culture and tourism.
“Cuba was the first country in the Western Hemisphere to establish diplomatic ties with China exactly 60 years ago, and this friendly relation has since remained touch and tenacious even under changing international situations,” said Ambassador Pereira in his speech. At the end of the event, Chongqing’s iSIA Biotechnology Co., Ltd. made a donation of 3,500 COVID-19 test kits to the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba to China.
Chongqing iSIA Biotechnology Co., Ltd. making a donation of COVID-19 test kits to the Cuban Embassy.
This is the fourth official visit to Chongqing for Ambassador Pereira, about 23 year away from when he first set foot in the city. “I’m really impressed by how fast Chongqing is developing, it seems that I could almost feel the great changes taking place in the city whenever I come here,” said Ambassador Pereira during a group interview with local and national news outlets. “I’ve also noticed that many of the country’s successful pilot projects, the public rental housing, for example, started out here in Chongqing.”
Chongqing signed a memorandum of understanding with Cuba’s Pinar del Rio in 2009. Chongqing’s total import and export value with Cuba in 2019 reached 22.66 million yuan, a 247% year-on-year increase, and another 108% increase was also recorded in the first seven months of 2020.
Ambassador Pereira taking a group interview with local and national media outlets.
He mentioned that he had been paying close attention to the recent flood situation in Chongqing, and was really worried about the damage caused by it. “However, I can now hardly see any traces of flood when I walk around the city, and that’s some pretty amazing example of post-diaster reconstruction,” said Ambassador Pereira.
According to a schedule provided by the municipal foreign affairs’ office, Ambassador Pereira and his wife are to visit, on Friday, the headquarters of Chang’an Automobile, have meetings with the city leaders and representatives of local enterprises like Haifu Medicine and Technology, Subin Mechanical and Equipment. They will also visit the “Jose Julian Marti Perez” Pavillion for Cuban Cultural Exchange in the Chongqing Garden Expo Park on Saturday, and then leave for Shanghai.
Ambassador Pereira exchanging name cards with local entrepreneurs, scholars and industry leaders.