Castro feeling better, says Cuban FM

HANOI: Cuba's President Fidel Castro is getting better, putting on weight and taking part in making key government decisions, the country's foreign minister said on Friday on a visit to Vietnam.

"The health of President Fidel Castro has improved notably," said Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque on a three-day visit to the Southeast Asian communist ally.

"He is improving continually and substantially."

Castro was exercising, keeping himself informed on world affairs and taking part in the country's decision-making process, he said.

Cuba's 80-year-old leader has only rarely been heard from or seen in photos or news video since he underwent gastrointestinal surgery last July and handed over power temporarily to his brother Raul.

However he has in recent weeks assailed US President George W Bush and the United States in a series of articles as many of Castro's associates and friends have said he is now recovering steadily.

In Hanoi, Roque also said Cuban-Vietnamese political and diplomatic relations could not be better and that Havana backed Hanoi's bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council from next year.

He thanked Vietnam for supplying Cuba with rice, the island's food staple, but said there was room for growth in economic relations in biotechnology, energy, information technology and pharmaceuticals.

The minister, who arrived from India and met his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Gia Khiem on Friday, was also due to meet Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and party chief Nong Duc Manh before flying on to China on Sunday.