BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

19/04/2006

Belarussian PM to visit Cuba this week

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Belarussian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky will visit Cuba Thursday at the invitation of President Fidel Castro, the government said in a statement here Tuesday.

The visit is "in the framework of the excellent political ties, friendship and cooperation that the two countries share," said the statement, published in the island's official Communist Party newspaper, Granma.

Cuba and Belarus, a former Soviet republic, established diplomatic ties in April 1992.

The prime minister will arrive in Cuba just 12 days after Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in for a third term, amid criticism from the United States and the European Union.

The statement did not specify how long Sidorsky, 51, and his delegation would stay.

Source:

http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000013/001302.htm