Cuba and South Africa should strengthen economic and trade relations to the same level as the strength of their political relations. This is according to Cuba’s National Assembly Speaker, Esteban Lazo Hernande.
Hernande has met in Havana with a visiting South African multi-party delegation from Parliament led by National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete.
The delegation, which is on a five day visit, had bilateral discussions with Hernande.
Hernande also says Cuba has developed a successful medicine for diabetics, which is receiving good response from various countries that are buying it.
However, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete has described South Africa as ‘ very capitalist’.
Mbete is leading a parliamentary delegation on a five day visit to Cuba, which ends on Friday.
She says she agrees with Cuba’s National Assembly Speaker Esteban Lazo Hernande’s view that South Africa should intensify its economic and social discussions.
“South Africa is actually a very capitalist society and economy. Therefore, we will tend to be held back by the nitty-gritties of what needs to be done when in fact we ought to be taking political positions based on he relations we have as government to government leaders. We therefore agree with what you said when you said we need for us to take even the political and social and economic discussions that we already have taken them further and deeper because we each need a better understanding of the difficulties that continue to be an obstacle towards a lot more that we could possible get out of these relations that are historic between the two countries.
