Cuban foreign minister to visit Japan in March

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TOKYO, Feb. 12 Kyodo -
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez is scheduled to visit Japan in the early
part of March, Cuban Ambassador to Japan Jose Fernandez de Cossio said
Thursday.
The trip would be Perez's first official visit to Japan since 2001 and the
first since Raul Castro succeeded his older brother Fidel Castro as leader of
Cuba in February last year.
Perez, who had earlier been scheduled to travel to Japan between late October
and early November last year, will hold talks with Foreign Minister Hirofumi
Nakasone while in Japan, according to the ambassador.
On the possibility of relations improving between Cuba and the United States
under U.S. President Barack Obama, Fernandez de Cossio told Kyodo News in Tokyo
that if a bilateral meeting ''occurs within the framework of mutual respect for
dialogue without preconditions, I'm sure it would be welcomed.''
==Kyodo