(26 Feb 2003)
1. Wide shot of Cuban president Fidel Castro and Chinese president Jiang Zemin stepping on to podium
2. Mid shot of leaders
3. Military band
4. Close up of leaders
5. Wide shot of leaders
5. Military personnel in honour guard
6. Mid shot of soldiers and naval personnel
7. Leaders walking review honour guard
8. Mid shot of military personnel
9. Leaders end their honour guard ceremony
10. Wide shot of meeting room
11. Jiang speaking
12. Castro speaking, smiling and waving hands
13. Jiang speaking and smiling
14. Mid shot of Castro
15. Castro speaking and laughing
16. Laughing Chinese officials
17. Long shot of meeting
18. Miniature Cuban and Chinese flags
19. Wide shot of signing by Chinese Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng and Cuban Minister of Government Ricardo Cabrisas
20. Close up of Guangsheng signing
21. Close up of hand writing
22. Mid shot of Cabrisas signing
23. Mid shot of Castro and Jiang together
24. Applause as Guangsheng and Cabrisas embrace after signing
25. Wide shot of group
26. Jiang and Cuban officials touch glasses
STORYLINE
Cuban leader Fidel Castro met his Chinese counterpart in Beijing Wednesday on the first day of an official visit bringing together the heads of two of the world's last remaining communist states.
76-year-old Castro was welcomed by President Jiang Zemin at the Great Hall of the People.
The two heads of state then held 30 minutes of private talks, followed by an hour-long open meeting.
Jiang and Castro then attended the signing of an agreement on economic and technical cooperation and Chinese economic assistance to Cuba.
The agreement was signed by China's Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng and Cuba's Minister of Government, Ricardo Cabrisas.
Jiang and Castro will preside over the signing of further agreements, the content of which weren't immediately announced.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Castro's talks with Jiang would focus on developing bilateral connections, especially economic links.
Ties between the two countries were frosty during the Cold War, when Cuba was an ally of the Soviet Union, China's rival in the communist bloc.
However, with the dwindling in the numbers of communist states in the 1990s, relations began to improve.
Economic links have grown especially important to Cuba, whose economy has yet to recover from the loss of Soviet subsidies.
Castro arrived from Kuala Lumpur, where he attended a summit of the 116-nation Non-Aligned Movement and blasted the latest moves by the US toward what he called "almost certain and unnecessary" war against Iraq.
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