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CUBA WILL SEEK ADMISSION TO EUROPEAN UNION AID PACT, BUT HAS NOT SAID IT WILL ADHERE TO CONDITIONS IMPOSED IN 1996.

Article Excerpt
In an apparent policy reversal, President Fidel Castro announced last December that Cuba would ask for inclusion in the Cotonou Agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group. ACP members are eligible to receive a share in the US$12.7 billion in EU aid and trade advantages over the next five years that resulted from the agreement negotiated in 2000 in Cotonou, Benin Republic (see CubaSource, 2000-10-20).

Cuba's interest in entering the Cotonou Agreement was signaled last September when three Cuban ministers held talks in Brussels with EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and other key EU officials.

The EU Council of Ministers decided in November to allow Cuba to take part as an "informal observer" in the current negotiations with the ACP. It is now unofficially understood that Cuba is a permanent observer in those negotiations despite its exclusion from any benefits resulting from them.

Though an ACP member since December 2000, Cuba has not been included in the Cotonou benefits because it withdrew from the negotiations in 2000 to protest...

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