Havana  - Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived for a visit to Cuba hours after the two countries had signed a series of economic agreements.

Hu, who last visited the Caribbean island in 2004, arrived Monday in Havana for a two-day stay that is to have an economic focus.

A statement by Cuba's government said the trip was a gesture of the deep friendship between the two Communist countries.

The pacts signed Monday included contracts for the delivery of Cuban sugar and nickel to China and Chinese agricultural goods to Cuba as well as deals on cooperation in such fields as biotechnology.

Hu's visit came as Cuba struggles to recover from three hurricanes that hit it this hurricane season and as its economy languishes under a 46-year US embargo and the removal of subsidies with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

After Venezuela, China is Cuba's most important trading partner, with more than 2.6 billion dollars in goods passing between the two countries last year, four times more than the trading volume of 2004.

Hu was expected to meet Cuban President Raul Castro Wednesday. (dpa)