Mexico City, Mexico.- The official visit to Mexico by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel is today perceived here as a clear demonstration of the mutual will to move forward in the bilateral relationship.

This was reiterated by both the Cuban head of state and his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, who were announced to hold a meeting at the National Palace after noon.

In a message posted on Twitter after arriving on Mexican soil on his first official visit after being elected President of the Republic of Cuba on October 10, Díaz-Canel stressed the emotion of returning to ‘dear Mexico, so linked to our history and that of all Latin America.’

Meanwhile, Lopez Obrador stressed in a press conference that Diaz-Canel’s presence here is important ‘because the Cuban people and the Mexican people are sister nations.’

Diaz-Canel’s visit was preceded in May by that of Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, who along with his Mexican counterpart, Marcelo Ebrard, reaffirmed the willingness to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the positive state of bilateral relations.

The heads of the diplomacy of Cuba and Mexico committed themselves on the occasion to work to consolidate these ties, especially in economic-commercial and migration matters.

This year, the Cuban ministers of Health and Tourism, as well as the rector of the University of Havana, also traveled to Mexico to hold bilateral exchanges, while the Mexican secretary of Health and the president of the National Sports Commission were received on the island.

Cuba has expressed its willingness to contribute modestly in areas of mutual benefit and interest to the development and renewal of Mexico promoted by the government of President Lopez Obrador.

Both countries also have a strengthened legal framework that will allow increasing exchanges in sectors of mutual interest such as health, education, sport, tourism, culture and biotechnology, and there are conditions to further strengthen economic-commercial ties.

Mexico is currently the second largest trading partner of Cuba in Latin America and the Caribbean and the fifth internationally. It also appears as the first issuer of tourists in the region and the eighth in the world.

Host in 2008 of the Unity Summit, from which the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was born, Mexico is also a relevant regional political actor which, like Cuba, defends the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.