Vice President of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Erastus Mwencha said in this capital that the agency wants to strengthen cooperative relations with Cuba, reported Thursday a diplomatic source.

Upon receiving at the pan-African body's headquarters the Cuban Ambassador in Ethiopia, Juan Manuel Rodriguez, Mwencha stressed the historic relations of cooperation and solidarity of the country with the people of Africa in different areas and praised the prestige reached by Havana on the continent.

Mwencha highlighted the importance that the AU gives to the celebration of the upcoming 21st summit in Addis Ababa in May, where they expect a large participation of world leaders to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

The OAU was founded on May 25, 1963 under the leadership of important African personalities like Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana) and Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt).

This regional organization aimed to promote unity and solidarity among African States, and in 2002 it gave path to the African Union, now comprising 54 countries of the continent.