New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said he had “very fruitful and positive” meetings with Cuban officials on tourism, agriculture and trade, adding that he was seeking to “increase the economic ties” between his state and Cuba.

The governor said in brief comments to reporters in Havana that economic, cultural, educational and other types of contacts between the United States and the communist-ruled island should be expanded.

“I am in favor of more humanitarian trips to Cuba, more tourism, more remittances and personal contacts between American citizens and Cubans,” the governor said.

Richardson, who is considered close to U.S. President Barack Obama, met on Wednesday with Deputy Tourism Minister Maria Elena Lopez and other tourism officials.

The governor, who arrived in Cuba on Monday, also toured Old Havana and visited the Ernest Hemingway Museum at Finca Vigia, the writer’s home in Cuba, to which he donated an antique telephone.

Richardson was accompanied to the island by his agriculture secretary, Miley Gonzalez, cultural affairs secretary, Stuart Ashman, and finance secretary, Katherine Miller.

The New Mexico governor, who is paying for the cost of the trip out of his own pocket, returns home on Friday.

Richardson is scheduled to meet with Foreign Ministry officials on Thursday.

Source: Herald Tribune