Canadian PM Trudeau to visit Cuba, Argentina

Ottawa: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will visit Cuba and Argentina next week in a bid to strengthen ties and boost trade, the government announced Tuesday.

Trudeau will meet with Cuban President Raul Castro and Argentine President Mauricio Macri in his travels from November 15 to 18.

"Cuba and Argentina are two of our closest partners in the hemisphere," Trudeau said in the statement.

Among the aims of the trip is encouraging "sustainable economic growth, inclusive governance, security, climate change, and gender equality," it said.

Canada and Cuba have had 71 years of uninterrupted diplomatic engagement and constructive cooperation in areas including trade and investment, and tourism.

Bilateral trade in goods is valued at more than $1 billion annually.

Former prime minister Jean Chretien was the last Canadian leader to visit the Caribbean nation in 1998.

Two years ago, Ottawa hosted secret Cuba-US talks that led to the restoration of their diplomatic relations and the reopening of the US embassy in Havana in 2015.

US President Barack Obama also made a landmark visit to the communist-ruled island last year.

Justin Trudeau's father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who was prime minister from 1968 to 1984, had opposed US sanctions on Cuba and made his feelings known by becoming one of the first Western leaders to visit the communist nation in 1974.

News photos of the period showed then-Cuban leader Fidel Castro cuddling Justin Trudeau's baby brother Michel.

Castro was also a pallbearer at Pierre Elliott Trudeau's funeral in Montreal in 2000.

The Canadian government did not provide precise details on Trudeau's schedule in Cuba and Argentina.

He will travel to Peru from November 19 to 20 to participate in the 2016 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

APEC's 21 members generate more than half of the world's gross domestic product, including more than 84 percent of Canada's total merchandise trade.