Sri Lankan President Visits Cuba

HAVANA TIMES — The president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, today begins an official visit to Cuba in response to an invitation from Cuban President Raul Castro, reported the Prensa Latina news agency.

Forty-one Sri Lankan students are currently studying under scholarships in Cuba in a program that has graduated nearly 70 young people from that Asian nation so far. The two countries maintain ties in education, health care, culture and sports through diplomatic relations that date back to 1959.

Rajapaksa will travel from Havana on to Brazil, where he will participate in the UN Rio+20 conference on sustainable development.