Lukashenko said he was glad to receive an envoy from Cuba. “I think it is unnecessary to say anything about Belarusian-Cuban relations, to characterize them. We have always maintained warm and friendly relations. You should know that we will follow these approaches,” Lukashenko stressed, noting that both countries have unique views, and there is no dissent in the diplomatic, political, and even ideological spheres.

“When preparing for this meeting and studying the entire range of trade and economic relations, I discovered that we need to seriously bring economic and trade issues closer to the political ones,” Lukashenko said, and proposed to the Cuban side the best competencies of the two countries to deepen commercial and economic ties and raise them to the level of political and humanitarian relations.

In turn, Marrero thanked the president of Belarus for the opportunity to meet and for the warm welcome, and conveyed greetings from the Cuban authorities and personally from President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who fondly remembers his visit to Minsk in 2019.

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