Recent exchanges of Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez with leaders of Lao, Vietnam and Japan reiterate the high priority the Caribbean country grants to its relations with Asia, Granma newspaper reported Wednesday.

The welcoming of the Cuban diplomat by Lao's President Choummaly Sayasone and Vietnam's Nguyen Minh Triet was stressed by the daily today.

Rodriguez, who sent a greeting from Head of State Raul Castro to both statesmen, met with his peers from both nations and groups of Cuban collaborators.

In Hanoi, Rodriguez also held talks with Vietnamese Communist Party general secretary Nong Duc Manh.

During the official visit to Japan, in the context of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two States, he exchanged with his peer Katsuya Okada.

Rodriguez presided over along with the Japanese foreign minister the 10th Session of the Inter-Ministerial Political Dialogue, and was also welcomed by that country's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

The island's foreign minister also talked with representatives of the group of Japanese jurists and legislators who support the struggle for the release of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unfairly imprisoned in the United States over 11 years ago.