(London Post) The EU and Cuba have moved to normalize ties with a “historic” accord, Brussels’ top diplomat Federica Mogherini has said in Havana. The deal comes as Cuba is preparing for a visit by the US President Obama.
“The deal marks a new phase in bilateral relations, a historic demonstration of mutual trust and understanding,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said at the Friday ceremony in Havana.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, who also attended the signing, said the two sides would soon meet to revive a human rights dialogue they started in Brussels last year.
Both the European and the Cuban parliaments still need to ratify the accord.
Spain pushes for more trade
The arrangement allows the EU and Havana to cooperate on a series of projects, from environmental protection to modernizing Cuba’s tax-collection system. Before the Friday deal, Cuba was the only country in Latin America without a cooperation deal with European bloc.
In addition, many individual EU members continued to maintain bilateral relations with Havana despite the bloc-wide break. Spain, which has close economic ties with the Latin American country, urged other EU members to “give EU businesses the chance to compete with American companies” ahead of the expected upswing in trade.
Embargo from ‘another century’
While the EU already reached an agreement on trade, Washington has yet to lift economic embargo against Cuba.
On Friday, Mogherini criticized decades-old US sanctions.
“The US embargo is totally obsolete,” she said. “The blockade is a measure that belongs to another century. Now the priorities are dialogue and cooperation.”
In a key signal of diplomatic thaw, US President Barack Obama is scheduled to arrive in Cuba on March 20, marking the first visit by the US president in 88 years. The legendary rock band the Rolling Stones would also perform on the same week.
dj/sms (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)
