Castro to meet the nation's new leaders - The Cuban president will strengthen links with his country's closest ally

china.scmp.com Wednesday, February 26, 2003 AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Havana

Workers at a Beijing flag factory sew Cuban flags ahead of the visit to the capital by Fidel Castro, his first trip to the mainland for eight years. Agence France-Presse photoCuban President Fidel Castro will arrive in Beijing tomorrow for his first visit to China in eight years.

Dr Castro, who has led the Americas' only communist country for more than four decades, regards China as his greatest political and economic ally.

The visit comes just days after US Secretary of State Colin Powell's trip to Beijing. Mr Powell on Monday hailed a "new dimension" in Sino-US relations, despite getting no assurance that the central government would back the Bush administration's policies in Iraq or North Korea.

Mr Castro, whose visit to Beijing follows a trip to Kuala Lumpur, where he attended the Non-Aligned Movement summit, is due to meet the new central government leaders elected in November's 16th party congress - just as he did on his sole previous trip to China in 1995.

Dr Castro developed close personal ties with outgoing President Jiang Zemin, who visited Cuba in November 1993 and April 2001.

The looming Iraq conflict is likely to be high on the agenda.

China took over as Cuba's main political and financial partner in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union.

It is currently the main credit provider for businesses on the island, which is isolated from mainstream US and European financial organisations.

By 2000, bilateral trade had reached US$524 million (HK$4 billion), rising to US$618 million in 2001, according to Cuban government figures.

China is Cuba's third most important trading partner after Venezuela - which provides the island with cheap oil - and Spain, whose hotel chains are deeply invested in the tourism industry.

The trade balance, however, clearly favours China. According to official Cuban government figures, in 2001 Cuba exported US$70 million worth of goods to China, while it imported goods worth US$547 million.

During Mr Jiang's trip to Havana that year, China gave the government loans worth US$400 million to upgrade Cuba's communications infrastructure and buy Chinese-made television sets, mostly for schools.

Both countries also operate more than a dozen joint ventures, ranging from biotechnology firms to companies that build water pumps.

Chinese military delegations have visited Cuba in past years, though both countries firmly deny there are any weapons sales involved.