Pakistan and Cuba have a vast scope of improving their bilateral, trade, economic and cultural relations and are heading in that direction, Cuban Ambassador to Pakistan Gustavo Machin Gomez said.
In an exclusive interview to APP, the Cuban ambassador, the first to Islamabad after up-gradation and reopening of its embassy, said the two countries had long standing diplomatic ties and would be taken to a higher level.
The medical team from Cuba, which helped the people following October 8th earthquake in NWFP and Azad Kashmir, played important role of introducing Cuba in Pakistan and established 'strong bonds of friendship', he said. "I come here with clear goals to strengthen, enhance, promote, boost, foster and encourage bilateral relations between the two countries," he added.
The ambassador said increased political, economic activities and war against terrorism had projected South Asia in the world, adding: "I feel proud to represent Cuba here in Pakistan among the friends." He said both the countries could learn from the achievements and experiences of each other in different fields. "Cuba has many things to offer to Pakistan and can gain advantage from many things from Pakistan," he said.
The ambassador said Cuba could provide assistance to Pakistan in medical, education, biotech and pharmaceutical fields, adding that there was also scope for the import of surgical goods manufactured in Pakistan. He pointed out that the trade between the two countries was at very low level and there was wide scope to increase it many folds. He said a number of sports goods made in Pakistan were being used in Cuba and Pakistan's National Boxing team had played many matches in Cuba.
Referring to Pak-Cuban relations, the ambassador said the 50-year relations would further strengthen, as there was a desire to work together between people of two countries, but said they needed direction and assistance.
He said after 1990, there had been improvement in Cuban economy because of many radical changes made in the policies. "Tourism, mining and raw material for many industries are major sectors of Cuba," he added. The ambassador said the major spending of Cuban government was on social sector and over 40-percent of its budget was for the improvement of basic needs of life.
The country had achieved success in various fields under the leadership of Fidel Castro, he said. Replying to a question about the health of Fidel Castro, the ambassador said his health was improving fast and "he will be able to recover fully and then run the country as usual."
He said Cuba had purely democratic system and every five years, there were fair, free and impartial elections with Fidel Castro winning the elections for the last 50 years.
He said the constitution of Cuba had the provision that if the voters were not satisfied with the performance of their elected representative, they could even recall him.
About Pak-India relations, the ambassador said Cuba was of the view that the relations between Pakistan and India should be further strengthened and disputes be resolved through negotiations.
The ambassador said as President of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Cuba wanted to play more active role to unite the NAM members, and added that Cuba would welcome President General Pervez Musharraf to attend the NAM conference from September 11 to 16.
The ambassador said the Cuban embassy in Islamabad was fully functional and ready to assist any one, who wanted to promote bilateral relations and economic ties between the two countries. He said that very soon the embassy would arrange a visit of Pakistani business community to Cuba to explore the chances of more trade activities.
Referring about 1,000 scholarships announced by Cuba for medical students during the visit of Cuban medical teams to earthquake affected areas, the ambassador said first batch of 500 students would reach Cuba before the end of November this year.