Americas

Americas

Cuba’s Raul Castro congratulates Serbian president-elect

23 May 2012 03:15 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Cuban leader Raul Castro Tuesday congratulated Serbia’s new president-elect Tomislav Nikolic, the Foreign Ministry (Minrex) announced, APA reports quoting Xihhua.

According to a statement from Minrex, "Castro ratified his country’s willingness to strengthen and increase its bilateral relations of friendship and collaboration with the Balkan nation."

Nikolic, 60, was elected president Sunday after defeating rival Boris Tadic in a second round of voting with 49.57 percent of the votes, according to data from the Serbian Electoral Commission.

Havana and Belgrade established formal ties in the 1990s, after the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.

In March-June 1999, Cuba backed Serbia against NATO’s intervention in the Kosovo conflict.

The two countries maintain good trade relations and have signed collaboration agreements in key economic sectors such as tourism and biotechnology.