EU, Cuba to hold fresh round of talks to normalize relations
The European Union (EU) and Cuba will hold a third round of negotiations on Wednesday and Thursday in a bid to normalize relations following the historic thaw in Washington-Havana relations.
"Our agenda is focused on cooperation with the ambition to start dealing with the two other major topics -- trade and political dialogue -- and set the stage for the next steps," a European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
"We are negotiating a framework agreement, providing a legal framework for dialogue, cooperation and exchanges, including on governance and human rights," he added.
European chief negotiator Christian Leffler and Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno will lead the negotiations.
The EU and Cuba suspended diplomatic ties in 2003 because of a row over Havana's human rights record after the Caribbean island jailed 75 dissidents.
However, EU member states voted last year for the opening of discussions aimed at achieving an "agreement on political dialogue and cooperation."
The EU and Cuba held the two previous rounds of talks in Brussels in August 2014 and in Havana in April last year.
A potential agreement between the two sides will facilitate bilateral trade. According to the latest Cuban government figures, the EU is Cuba's second biggest trading partner behind Venezuela, with exchanges valued at $3.7 billion in 2012.
The development comes as the French presidency announced on Tuesday that President Francois Holland would make the first ever visit by a French head of state to Cuba in May.
Hollande's "visit to Cuba on May 11 will constitute the first visit by a French head of state to this country," the presidency said in a statement.
On December 17 last year, US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro announced a momentous rapprochement between Havana and Washington after half a century.
Cuba and the United States have not had diplomatic relations since 1961. However, Washington has maintained an interest section on the island.
MSM/NN/HRB
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