PRETORIA, South Africa, May 19, 2016/APO (African Press Organization)/ —
H.E. Marcelino Medina, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba, will be visiting South Africa from 20 to 25 May 2016. He will lead Cuba’s delegation to the 13th session of the Cuba-South Africa Joint Consultative Mechanism to be held on Monday 23 May at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, hosted by South Africa’s Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, H.E. Luwellyn Landers, who he will join in celebrating 20 years of bilateral inter-governmental cooperation between the two countries. As part of his visit, Deputy Minister Medina will visit Limpopo, where he will be welcomed by Premier Stan Mathabatha and members of the provincial authority. He will also have the opportunity to meet with the Cuban professionals delivering services in that province as part of Cuba-South Africa bilateral cooperation program.
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 11 May 1994 and, since 1996, have engaged in a bilateral cooperation program which began with the arrival of the first group of Cuban health professionals to contribute to South Africa’s commitment in the delivery of comprehensive and accessible health services.
Cuba has a long history of cooperation and solidarity with South Africa that dates back to the early 1960s, when a first group of young South Africans arrived in Cuba in 1962 to receive professional training in medicine and other sciences.
