Bouteflika hosts Raul Castro

Algerian President holds talks with Cuban counterpart on bolstering bilateral ties between two countries.

• Cuban President Raul Castro held talks on Sunday in Algiers with his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika after visiting a memorial to the country’s war of independence, the APS news agency reported.
• The two leaders were aiming to reinforce bilateral ties and also planned to discuss regional and international questions of common interest, the Algerian presidency said.
• Quoted by APS, the Cuban president hailed the “important” links between the two countries.
• “Algerian-Cuban relations have always been clear and honest,” Castro said, “(They) have not just been maintained, but have been strengthened over time.”
• Castro, who arrived in Algiers on Saturday for his first official visit there as Cuban leader, visited a memorial marking Algeria’s 1954-1962 war of independence from France.
• He also inspected the presidential guard.
• Castro had previously been in Russia and Angola before flying to Algiers for a three-day visit.
• Algeria and Cuba established ties in 1962. The two countries signed a number of cooperation agreements in 2005 covering areas such as health, sports, fisheries and culture.
• Castro’s ailing elder brother Fidel visited Algiers seven times as leader, and Bouteflika also visited Havana in 2006 — shortly after the younger Castro took over the presidency.
• Cuban volunteers also serve in Algeria, mostly in the health field, and Cuba manages several eye clinics in the north African country with more in the works.
• Earlier this month, an Algerian pharmaceutical company also struck a deal with a Cuban counterpart to produce locally a vaccine against Hepatitis B.