Raul Castro in Algiers

The Head of State of Cuba Raul Castro was expected Saturday afternoon in Algiers in the "friend and ally" land, maintaining the two countries since the independence of Algeria in 1962 ...exemplary... diplomatic and political relations.

•     The visit of Raul Castro at the invitation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika “reflects the quality of the historical relations of friendship and solidarity between Algeria and Cuba,” said the Algerian presidency in a statement.
  
      The program for the state visit was not officially stated.
  
      The two heads of state were to discuss “strengthening bilateral cooperation in recent years, an appreciable change,” also by “an exchange of views on regional and international issues of common interest,” according to the presidency.
  
      The friendship relations between the two countries has been emphasized repeatedly, especially during the September visits Fidel Castro has done in Algeria, the last one was in 2001.
  
      Recovering from an operation he had received in September 2006 in Havana, his “friend and ally” Mr. Bouteflika, who came to attend a summit of Non Aligned Movement, a movement founded during the Cold War as an alternative to the Communist bloc in the East and the capitalist one in the West.
  
      Over the years, both countries have forged close ties, sharing the same view in the UN or the Non-Aligned Movement and the South-South dialogue or the World Trade Organization (WTO).
  
      At the same time, they have developed economic cooperation within a joint commission, in particular the signing in 2005 five agreements for cooperation in the fields of health, and also sports, culture and fisheries.
  
      More than 100 Cuban doctors are currently practicing in Algeria in the south and the Highlands, while more than 2000 Cubans have worked in this country since 1962.
  
      Havana has also planned the construction of a dozen of ophthalmology clinics - some of which are active as the one in Djefla (270 km south of Algiers) – the one they manage in El-Oued (south-east), Bechar ( south-west), Ourgla (800 km south of Algiers) and Tlemcen (west).
  
      Others will be built including Tamanrasset (deep south) and Sétif (east).
  
      The Algerian pharmaceutical SAIDAL also concluded on 2 February in Algiers an agreement of partnership and technology transfer with the Cuban group ‘Heber biotic’ production in Algeria of a vaccine against hepatitis B.
  
      The agreement also provides for the construction of a plant in Algeria for the production of this vaccine, with a capacity of 5 million doses for an investment estimated at 3.5 million euros, according SAIDAL.
  
      For the government daily El Moudjahid Saturday, there is “no doubt” that the visit of Raul Castro will give a greater impulsion to economic cooperation to reach the exemplary level of political relations.  
  
      Raul Castro, 77, became, July 2006, head of the state succeeding to his brother Fidel, 82, ill. He has since paid a state visit to Venezuela in December and another in the last two weeks in Russia and in Angola where he will arrive.
  
  Ennaharonline/ afp