HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — A shipment of 15,000 tons of rice donated by the Chinese government to Cuba has arrived at the port of Havana, the island’s president said on Sunday.

The shipment is the first batch of a promised 60,000 tons that China says it will donate to Cuba, which is grappling with dire shortages.

“That noble gesture of solidarity will reach millions of consumers throughout all the provinces and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud, in addition to our health and education institutions,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote on X.

The communist Caribbean country has been under a US trade embargo since 1962, which is often blamed for shortages of food and medicine. In January, Cuba stopped receiving oil from its ally Venezuela, when the United States overthrew Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and began directing energy policy. Meanwhile, the US has threatened sanctions on anyone selling oil to the country.

The effective energy blockade has significantly worsened blackouts that have long plagued the country.

“The heartfelt ties of friendship and cooperation that unite us are strengthened in crucial moments,” Diaz-Canel wrote on X about the rice shipment.

Chinese ambassador Hua Xin said on Cuban television that the 60,000 tons of rice represent, “the largest food aid” from China to Cuba “in recent years.”

Earlier this week, China denounced a US decision to indict former Cuban president Raul Castro over the gunning down of planes in 1996.