Beirut, Sep 22 (Prensa Latina) Lebanese minister of Economy and Trade, Alain Hakim, today expressed to be in favor of strengthening high level economic and trade relations with Cuba, a will shared by Cuban business people and representatives.
"We think that our relation with Cuba must be strengthened and due to that we already sent a commission to make explorations in the Caribbean country about six months ago and they returned with a very positive feedback," said Hakim in statements to Prensa Latina.

The minister attended a press conference at the headquarters of the Lebanese Trade Chamber along with Cuban ambassador in this capital, Rene Ceballo, and members of the Lebanon-Cuba Business People Council, chaired by Ali Kazma, to announce a binational forum scheduled for October.

Since the same moment the business people commission returned from Havana, where they held their first bilateral economic forum, Lebanese authorities started to work to continue strengthening relations at different levels between the two nations.

The Cuban diplomat told reporters that the two parties chiefly keep contacts for promoting investments, joint associations, and other types of links in specific areas such as the pharmacy, services, finances, and tourism sectors.

"We believe in links between the two nations and think that Cuba and Lebanon can develop a high level relation in trade and business," stressed Hakim.

For his part, Ceballo praised the good level of what he described as over 60-year-old historical bilateral relations, either in cooperation and collaboration, and diplomatic relations with mutual support in international organizations, and now in the new economic-trade phase.