Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero will visit China from November 2 to 9, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday.

Marrero will attend the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE), which is set to be held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10, according to Wang.

This will be his first visit to China since he took office as prime minister of Cuba in December 2019, Wang told a regular press briefing in Beijing.

Marrero's visit comes following a state visit to China by First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel last November, and an August meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Diaz-Canel on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

It also comes after an official visit to Cuba in September by Li Xi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

As the latest high-level exchanges between the two sides, Marrero's visit is of great significance to further implementing the important common understandings reached by the two heads of state and deepening China-Cuba relations, said the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

Calling China and Cuba "good friends who walk hand in hand" and "like-minded, good comrades," Wang said China is ready to work with Cuba to take the visit as an opportunity to deepen the special friendly relations between the two countries in the new era and jointly build a China-Cuba community with a shared future.

(Cover: File photo of Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero. /CFP)