HAVANA, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao concluded his state visit to Cuba Wednesday and left for Lima, Peru to continue his five-nation trip, in which he will attend the Economic Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Organization (APEC) scheduled for Nov. 22-23.

This was President Hu's second state visit to the Latin American country since his first in November 2004.

In Havana, Hu held talks with Raul Castro, president of the Council of the State of Cuba, on expanding friendly and cooperative bilateral relations.

The two countries also signed documents of cooperation in the economic and educational sectors in a ceremony witnessed by both Hu and Castro.

China and Cuba set up diplomatic ties in 1960. In recent years, the two countries have maintained frequent high-level visits, deepened mutual trust and expanded trade and economic cooperation.

China is one of Cuba's major trading partners with two-way trade totaling 2.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2007.

During his state visit to Peru, Hu will attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, before embarking on a state visit to Greece.

The Chinese leader attended the G20 summit on the global financial crisis in Washington at the weekend and visited Costa Rica, before arriving in Havana.

Source: Xinhua