HAVANNA, Cuba -- China agreed to invest $500 million in Cuba's nickel industry as the leaders of the two communist nations met Tuesday in Havana, the BBC reported.

Chinese President Hu Jintao was in Cuba visiting with Fidel Castro, in an effort to forge closer relations and bolster economic ties.

The two leaders reportedly signed 16 different memoranda of understanding, according to Cuba's Granma newspaper -- including agreements on telecommunications, education, mining and agriculture.

Hu's meeting with Fidel Castro -- who is still in a wheelchair after breaking his knee and arm in an October fall -- marked the last stop in Hu's Latin American tour. The Chinese leader visited Brazil, Argentina and Chile, where he attended last weekend's Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Relations between Cuba and China were tense during the Cold War, but have improved since Cuba lost its trade and aid deals with the former Soviet Union, the BBC said. China is now Cuba's third largest trading partner after Venezuela and Spain.

Castro said the two countries share the same ideal of socialism, adding, "Socialism will remain, in the end, is the only real hope for peace and the survival of our species."

Copyright 2004 by United Press International