India will be ‘Guest of Honour Country’ for the prestigious Havana International Book Fair that begins on Wednesday. India is the first Asian country to be accorded this rare honour by Cuba. Secretary Union Ministry of Culture Ravinder Kumar will represent India and inaugurate the ten-day event.
In their 55th year of diplomatic relationship, Cuba hopes to strengthen their friendship with India further under the Narendra Modi Government. Cuban ambassador Abelardo Rafael Cueto Sosa said when President Raul Castro congratulated Modi on his taking over as PM, Modi replied back in a long letter expressing his happiness while thanking Castro for good wishes. “Mr Modi’s reply was in three paragraphs. That shows the warmth from him,” Sosa said.
And even as Cuba reworks its relationship with the United States of America, which Sosa said will be “long and slow process”, the country hopes to build on its old friend India. “Our relation with India has been historically good and friendly. I have been India for quite some time now and I am friends with people in all the political parties in India. I get warmth from everywhere,” Sosa said.
India-Cuba relations have been traditionally warm and India was amongst the first countries to recognise Cuba after the 1959 Revolution. India supports resolutions in the UN General Assembly calling for lifting of US sanctions against Cuba while Cuba supports India’s inclusion as a permanent member in the restructured UN Security Council. Cuba also voted in favour of India’s candidature for its Non-Permanent Seat in UNSC during 2011-12. There has been active cooperation between Indian company BIOCON and Cuba’s CIMAB on monoclonal antibodies for cancer treatment.
India has been supporting Cuba against US supported resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council and also consistently voted in favour of Cuban sponsored resolutions in the UN General Assembly calling for lifting of US sanctions against Cuba. India has also been consistently supporting Cuba for removal of its name from the black list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF).