HAVANA -- U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) chief Jose Graziano da Silva has praised Cuba for meeting the food security goal set by the World Food Summit, state-run daily Granma reported Monday.

The daily said that Graziano wrote in a letter addressed to retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro "I have the honor of addressing you in my role as FAO Director-General, to congratulate you sincerely and all the Cuban people for having fulfilled in advance the goal set by the World Food Summit, held in Rome, Italy, in November 1996, of halving the total number of undernourished in each country by the year 2015."

"Cuba's food security is today similar to that of developed countries, with malnutrition affecting less than 5 percent of the population," according to the UN agency.

Cuba, one of only 16 countries to have already reached the 1996 World Food Summit goal, is to be honored along with the others at an FAO conference to be held from June 15 to 22 in Rome where the FAO is headquartered.

"All these nations will receive a certificate of recognition for having met the target set at the summit in advance," said Graziano.

The FAO chief was on a working visit to Cuba last week, meeting with current Cuban leader Raul Castro and other senior officials to assess different programs related to food security and the present state of bilateral cooperation.

The FAO has a dozen collaboration projects with Cuba aimed at improving and modernizing its agriculture.