Skip to main content
Monday, November 9, 2026Nov 9
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

This story is free to read.

On historic foray, Castro visits France as Cuba opens up

FILE - In this Monday, Sept. 28, 2015 file photo, Cuba's President Raul Castro arrives for the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters. Raul Castro is to come to France for the first state visit ever of a Cuban President in the country, a trip that could help boosting French investments and developing stronger economic, cultural and touristic ties between Paris and Havana. Castro is to arrive on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 for the private part of his trip ahead of the official visit on Monday and Tuesday, only 8 months after French Socialist President Francois Hollande’s one-day stop in Havana. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, file)
FILE - In this Monday, Sept. 28, 2015 file photo, Cuba's President Raul Castro arrives for the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters. Raul Castro is to come to France for the first state visit ever of a Cuban President in the country, a trip that could help boosting French investments and developing stronger economic, cultural and touristic ties between Paris and Havana. Castro is to arrive on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 for the private part of his trip ahead of the official visit on Monday and Tuesday, only 8 months after French Socialist President Francois Hollande’s one-day stop in Havana. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, file) FILE - In this Monday, Sept. 28, 2015 file photo, Cuba's President Raul Castro arrives for the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters. Raul Castro is to come to France for the first state visit ever of a Cuban President in the country, a trip that could help boosting French investments and developing stronger economic, cultural and touristic ties between Paris and Havana. Castro is to arrive on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 for the private part of his trip ahead of the official visit on Monday and Tuesday, only 8 months after French Socialist President Francois Hollande’s one-day stop in Havana. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, file)

By Associated Press 1 min read

PARIS (AP) – Cuban President Raul Castro is paying a state visit to France, in the first European foray by a Cuban leader in two decades, as Cuba opens up its economy.

The trip comes after a breakthrough deal was reached in Paris in December lightening Cuba’s foreign debt – and days after France hosted the leader of another long-time pariah state: Iran.

Castro is receiving a formal welcome at the Arc de Triomphe monument Monday and will attend a state dinner with French President Francois Hollande. The Cuban delegation is also meeting French business leaders and the UNESCO chief.

The French government was instrumental in securing the debt relief deal. Hollande was the first French leader to visit Cuba in half a century, with a trip in May aimed at boosting trade.