US Criticized for Rejecting Entry of Cuban Parliamentary SpeakerChina's top legislator Li Peng and President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Council Najma Heptulla criticized the United States here Tuesday for refusing to grant a visa to a Cuban Parliamentary speaker to attend the inter-parliamentary conference at the headquarters of the United Nations.Heptulla said during a meeting with Li that the IPU held a special meeting for the visa refusal issue. She said the US has deprived Cuba of the right to participate in the dialog among speakers of parliaments, which is the aim of the upcoming conference. Li said speakers from every IPU member parliament have the right to attend meetings of the IPU and hoped the issue could be resolved as soon as possible. In addition, Li said China hopes to increase understanding and friendship with leaders of other member parliaments during the conference. Li arrived on Monday and met with several leaders of member parliaments on Tuesday, including those of the Republic of Korea and Viet Nam. He also met with Kofi Annan and IPU Secretary-General Anders Johnsson. |
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