United Nations, New York.- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel met today with his Salvadoran counterpart, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, who considers himself a great friend of the Caribbean island with which his country maintains a fruitful collaboration.

In April of this year, when Díaz-Canel was elected president of Cuba, Sánchez Cerén was one of the first to congratulate him and reiterated his commitment to continue strengthening the relations of brotherhood with the Government and the people of the island.

Since the restablishment of diplomatic relations in 2009 – under the then President Mauricio Funes – Cuba and El Salvador increased their commercial and cooperation ties to the level of their current friendship.

In the terms of office of the Farabundo Martí Front for National Liberation, Cuba has contributed to strengthen programs of epidemiology, health, culture, citizen coexistence and education, with advisers in the campaign to eradicate illiteracy in El Salvador by 2019.

In addition, the ophthalmologists of the island have performed more than 20,000 free cataract, pterygium and retinopathy surgeries at the Santa Gertrudis hospital, as part of the Miracle Mission.

The meeting of the Cuban president with his Salvadoran counterpart is part of a broad agenda of bilateral meetings at the UN, where he is to participate in the high-level meeting of the General Assembly at its 73rd session.