The European Union (EU) and Cuba has signed a deal to normalise ties that had been blocked for decades by human rights concerns under revolutionary icon Fidel Castro.
Cuba was the only Latin American country not to have a “dialogue and cooperation” deal with the 28-nation EU covering issues such as trade, human rights and migration.
But EU has now dropped a policy in place since 1996 which stated that Cuba first had to improve its human rights record before getting closer links with the bloc.
This latest accord was signed by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, EU Foreign Affairs Chief Federica Mogherini and representatives from the EU member states at a Brussels.
Under the new agreement, the EU will continue urging Cuba to make changes. But the EU no longer requires that those changes occur before expanding economic and political opportunities between the two sides.
The aim of the (agreement) is to create a more predictable and transparent atmosphere for economic operators and increase their economic capacity to produce, trade and create jobs.
The EU advocates diversification of exports from Cuba beyond the traditional products, and cooperates to disseminate the necessary knowledge among Cuban exporters to improve the access of goods onto the EU market.
In 2003, the EU had imposed sanctions on Cuba and suspended cooperation over a crackdown on journalists and activists and it took until 2008 to get talks going again.
