Moscow preparing for Cuban president's upcoming visit - Lavrov

MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax) - Moscow is actively preparing for Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel's upcoming visit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"We are actively preparing for a visit by Comrade Diaz-Canel, the president of the Republic of Cuba. We appreciate it that he has accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation to take part in the ceremonies on the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory," Lavrov said, opening a meeting with President of Cuba's National Assembly of People's Power and Council of State Esteban Lazo Hernandez.

"This visit practically coincides in time with another jubilee date that concerns our countries, the 65th anniversary since the establishment of our bilateral diplomatic relations," he said.

The relationship between Russia and Cuba "is heading for a period of intensive contacts at the highest and high levels," Lavrov said. "The Russian-Cuban intergovernmental commission on trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation is to gather for a meeting soon. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko will visit your country," he said.

"We want to make sure and will make sure that all these contacts and visits yield an agreement on further deepening our strategic partnership in all fields and promoting our coordination on the international arena. We will prepare relevant draft decisions," Lavrov said.