Palestinian ambassador to Cuba receives Friendship Medal

Akram Mohammad Samhan, ambassador of the State of Palestine to Cuba, was decorated in Havana with the Friendship Medal, in recognition of his contribution to the strengthening of fraternal ties between the two nations.

On behalf of the President of the Republic, the first deputy minister of foreign affairs, Gerardo Peñalver Portal, awarded the high recognition to the Palestinian diplomat, who will soon complete his mission at the head of the Embassy of that country to the island.

As reported by the foreign ministry on its website, in the ceremony, which took place at the headquarters of that agency, deputy minister Josefina Vidal Ferreiro highlighted the progress and consolidation of bilateral relations between Cuba and Palestine under the management of ambassador Samhan and his diplomatic mission.

He ratified Cuba's position of support for a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, allowing the Palestinian people to exercise the right to self-determination and to have an independent and sovereign State with the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and guaranteeing the right of return of refugees.

For his part, Ambassador Samhan thanked the Cuban people and the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Diaz-Canel, for the constant support in the defense of the Palestinian cause and the contribution to the training of professionals in medicine, despite the tightening of the blockade imposed on Cuba by the Government of the United States.

The ceremony also recalled the five decades of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Palestine and Cuba, which are being commemorated this year.