Castro meets Annan in hospital room: Report

Castro, wearing a dressing gown, is seen shaking Annan's hand in the picture taken late on Thursday.

Ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan have met in the Cuban leader's hospital room, the Juventud Rebelde daily said on Friday, publishing a photograph of the meeting.

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Castro, wearing a dressing gown, is seen shaking Annan's hand in the picture taken late on Thursday, soon after the UN chief arrived in Havana for the September 11-17 Non-Aligned Movement meeting.

"During the friendly meeting, the Cuban president and the top UN representative exchanged opinions on the relevance of the Non-Aligned Summit and other major international issues such as the West Asia situation and current events in Africa," Juventud Rebelde said.

Annan was in Havana for a meeting of the 118-state NAM and was scheduled to address NAM leaders on Friday, when the summit of heads and state and government gets underway after four days of lower-level meetings.

During their one-hour meeting, Castro gave the UN chief an autographed Cuban edition of the book "100 Hours with Fidel," by French-Spanish author Ignacio Ramonet, the newspaper reported.

A summit of 18 developing countries (G15) was being held in the Cuban capital in parallel with the September 11-17 NAM meeting.