DHAKA, 28 March 2006 — Cuban President Fidel Castro has formally invited Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit in mid-September in Cuba.

Juan Carretero Ibanez, the Delhi-based Cuban ambassador, who has been concurrently accredited to Bangladesh as a special envoy of the Cuban president, gave the invitation letter to Prime Minister Khaleda at her office in Dhaka yesterday.

Thanking the Cuban president, Prime Minister Khaleda said she would try to attend the NAM summit.

The ambassador said the Cuban leader hoped that Khaleda would attend the summit. “The Cuban government and the people are eagerly waiting to accord a cordial and warm reception to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to Cuba,” the envoy quoted President Castro as saying.

President Ziaur Rahman’s visit to Cuba in 1979 gave a new dimension to relations between the two countries, it was recalled during the meeting. The ambassador expressed Cuba’s interest in setting up joint-venture pharmaceutical plants in Bangladesh.

The envoy told the prime minister that Cuba is considering opening a chancery in Bangladesh soon. He conveyed the Cuban president’s greetings to Khaleda Zia on the occasion of Independence and National Day of Bangladesh.