Ecuadorian President Receives Cuban Foreign Minister

HAVANA , Cuba - The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, received Cuban foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, on Monday, at the Palacio de Carolendet, in Quito.

The Cuban Minister, on official visit, and the Ecuadorian president, attended the ceremony of the changing of the presidential guard in the historical center of Quito, reports a press release by Prensa Latina agency news.

The Ecuadorian Foreign Minister, Ricardo Patiño, told Prensa Latina that the relations with Cuba are a priority given that Cuba is one of the strategic nations for their diplomacy.

Patiño praised the international solidarity of Cuba with Ecuador, the homeland of Eloy Alfaro. He mentioned that there are about 2 000 young Ecuadorians studying Medicine in Cuba, without asking anything in return.

Both ministers chair the 2nd Meeting of the Mechanism of Political Consultation between the two countries to strengthen the historical relations of friendship and solidarity and to boost cooperation programs in different sectors.

At the Palacio de Najas, Rodríguez talked, by videoconference, with the Cuban doctors of the Operacion Milagro in the Ophthalmologic Center of Latacunga, who have done more than 100 000 free sight surgeries.

The Cuban diplomat will meet on Tuesday with Ecuadorian Vice President Lenin Moreno to discuss the topic of Cuban cooperation in the study of people with disability and their follow-up in prevention and attention stages.

Rodriguez will also meet with Augusto Barrera, metropolitan major, in the context of the declaration of Quito as the Latin American capital of Culture in 2011.

The Cuban Foreign Minister arrived in Quito on Sunday, and was received by deputy foreign minister Kintto Lucas and Jorge Rodriguez, the Cuban ambassador to Ecuador.(acn)