Presidents of Mongolia and Cuba hold official talks

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ President Ts.Elbegdorj, being on an official visit to the Republic of Cuba, and President of the Council of State and the Council of Minister of Cuba Raul Castro had official talks on September 15. At the beginning of the talks, Mr Castro expressed gratitude to the Mongolian leader for the arrival and reminisced his visit of 1970 to Mongolia, saying it is a precious memory to recall. He shared his satisfaction with the supportive and friendly relations between our two countries, regardless of being on different sides of the globe, and highlighted it is important to maintain such friendship. President Ts.Elbegdorj extended gratitude to Mr Raul Castro and the hospitable people of Cuba for the warm welcome and noted Cuba is the very first Latin American country to establish diplomatic ties with Mongolia, and the friendship of the nations have been growing ever since. He also underlined the role and importance of the academic exchange in the bilateral relations, and the both sides agreed to increase size of the scholarship for Mongolian students from the Government of Cuba. Since 1994, 2-3 Mongolian students have received each year Cuban government scholarships to study in Cuba, majoring in dentistry and medical sciences. More than 140 Mongolians have benefitted from the scholarships as of 2016. The sides discussed about boosting cooperation in agriculture, biological and organic products, pharmaceutical and medical industries, and agreed to export to Mongolia the vaccinations of Hepatitis B and C and chronic foot infection caused by diabetes. The dignitaries touched upon a wide range of issues during the talks, which lasted for five hours.