Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Friday that Cuba had held talks with the United States to discuss key differences between the two countries and possible solutions through dialogue.
"Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel confirmed at a press conference on Friday that Cuban officials had recently held talks with representatives of the United States government to discuss key differences and their solutions, as well as to assess the political will to take concrete actions for the benefit of both countries," said China Media Group (CMG) reporter Gong Xiangcheng, citing Diaz-Canel at a press conference.
Noting that dialogue is still in its early stages, Diaz-Canel said Cuba is willing to continue exchanges with the United States on the basis of equality and respect for each other's political systems, sovereignty and self-determination, with the aim of maintaining security and stability in both countries and the region, identifying areas of cooperation and avoiding confrontation.
He emphasized that the dialogue process is extremely delicate and that Cuba will proceed with caution, responsibility and seriousness, noting that the country has consistently refrained from responding to speculation.
The president blamed the U.S. energy blockade for exerting significant pressure on Cuba, saying no petroleum shipments have arrived on the island in the past three months.
Cuba confirms talks with U.S.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday that both China and the Netherlands being committed to promoting mutually beneficial cooperation in an open and pragmatic spirit is in line with the shared interests of the two sides.
This is also conducive to the sound development of China-European Union (EU) relations as well as the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains, he said.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks in a phone conversation with Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendson at the latter's request.
Wang congratulated Berendson on his assuming office as the Netherlands' new foreign minister and said that China and the Netherlands are important partners of cooperation to each other.
China appreciates the positive signal released by the new Dutch government of valuing its relations with China, he said, noting that China's foreign policy maintains coherence and stability, and that China is willing to work with the Netherlands to strengthen exchanges and communication, promote mutual understanding and trust, and consistently deepen their open and pragmatic partnership for comprehensive cooperation.
Wang briefed his Dutch counterpart on the outcomes of China's just concluded "two sessions," noting that China will remain committed to opening wider to the outside world and expanding institutional opening-up, bringing more opportunities to countries around the world, including the Netherlands.
China-Netherlands economic and trade cooperation enjoys mutual complementarity of advantages, mutual benefit and win-win results, Wang noted.
He expressed hope that the new government of the Netherlands will take on a new look and new challenges, adhere to independence and self-autonomy, and support the normal economic and trade exchanges between enterprises of the two countries.
It is hoped that the Dutch side would push EU institutions to understand China in an objective and rational manner, and adhere to the positioning of partnership and open cooperation between China and the EU, Wang said.
For his part, Berendson said the new government of the Netherlands speaks highly of the achievements China has made in its rapid development, and regards the relations with China as one of its most important bilateral relationships.
Berendson said his country is willing to keep high-level exchanges with China, leverage bilateral mechanisms such as the political consultation between foreign ministries and the mixed economic and trade committee, increase dialogue and exchanges at all levels, deepen the pragmatic cooperation in climate change, water resource management and other areas, and jointly defend multilateralism, consistently advancing the bilateral open and pragmatic partnership for comprehensive cooperation to new levels.
The Dutch side is willing to play a constructive role for the sound and steady development of EU-China relations, he said.
The two sides also exchanged views on issues including the Ukraine crisis.
China-Netherlands mutually beneficial cooperation in line with common interests: Chinese FM
