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Mbeki welcomed to Cuba

Mbeki, left, is greeted on arrival in Havana by Castro
Mbeki, left, is greeted on arrival in Havana by Castro  

HAVANA (Reuters) -- Cuban President Fidel Castro has welcomed greeted South African President Thabo Mbeki to Cuba.

Castro, 74, embraced Mbeki at Havana's Jose Marti international airport, before the pair drove together into the city.

The South African leader, who was in Cuba for last year's summit of the G77 group of Third World nations, was to later visit a Cuban biotechnology center and a former Spanish fortress on the edge of Havana Bay.

Mbeki's four-day visit is intended to build on economic, health and educational ties between the two states, as well as explore commercial possibilities, officials said.

But the visit will have wider political symbolism, highlighting South Africa's opposition to the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba and Castro's long-time support for the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa.

Cuba trained fighters and supplied weapons to the then-exiled African National Congress (ANC) in its battle against minority rule, and poured thousands of its troops in the 1980s into Angola against white South African forces who were supporting a rebel army.

Cuba has been vocal in its backing of South Africa and Brazil in the controversial production of generic versions of patented AIDS medications.

Castro said recently Cuba would also begin to locally produce cheaper AIDS drugs to help fight the world epidemic.

Mbeki, who succeeded former President Nelson Mandela in 1999 as South Africa's second post-apartheid leader, will receive a formal welcome on Wednesday at Havana's Revolution Palace, and later speak at Havana University.

Castro, who counts Mandela as a personal friend, is also expected to discuss with Mbeki reform of the United Nations, the World Bank and the agenda for a U.N.-led conference on racism due in South Africa in August.

Reuters contributed to this report.



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