Cuba and European Union Negotiate Political and Cooperation Accord

Cuba and the European Union have been negotiating a bilateral political and cooperation accord during talks Wednesday and Thursday at the headquarters of the Cuban Foreign Ministry in Havana.

The current round of talks will advance the negotiations of the accord and favor preliminary exchange on another two aspects of the same agreement, which are related to commerce and political dialogue, according to the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

This is the third meeting during the negotiations process, which opened in Havana in April 2014 and continued in August last year in Brussels, Belgium.

The Foreign Ministry says that negotiations have been developed on equal grounds and with mutual respect. The negotiating teams have been headed by Christian Leffler, executive director for the Americas at the European Service for Foreign Action and by Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno.

The EU is already Cuba’s biggest foreign investor, and EU officials say the proposed accord will boost EU companies' presence in Cuba.