Cyprus-Forum.com

[zan]

Cyprus to open Cuba embassy next year

Go ahead given despite

US Senator’s reservations

By Annie Charalambous

CYPRUS is geographically distant from Cuba but politically very close, Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou said in Havana earlier this week.

"This has been proved by Cyprus’s position at the UN General Assembly," he added after talks at the Cuban Foreign Ministry with his counterpart Felipe Perez Roque.

He also said that, in the European Union, Cyprus has supported the lifting of sanctions imposed by the bloc on Cuba, and backs closer links between the EU and Havana.

Kyprianou, who returned home yesterday, announced the opening next year of a Cyprus Embassy in Havana, despite a call to the contrary by Cuban-descent US Senator Bob Menendez - a long-standing friend of Cyprus.

"Yes, it’s true the New Jersey Senator’s wish is that we do not open an embassy there, he is a very good friend of Cyprus and we respect his views. But Cuba is also a very good friend of Cyprus," Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry Nicos Emiliou told The Cyprus Weekly.

Agree to disagree

"We agree to disagree on this, he understands that Cyprus has a moral obligation to open an embassy in Havana, they opened one in Nicosia years ago. Diplomacy is based on reciprocity," he added.

Menendez, who has visited Cyprus five times and enjoys the backing of the large Greek American community of New Jersey and New York, raised the issue during a meeting in September with President Christofias who was visiting the US capital for the UN General Assembly’s meeting.

"This government’s policy is to strengthen further relations between Cuba and Cyprus," Emiliou added.

During his three-day official visit to Havana, Kyprianou also announced the donation of $100,000 to help the Cuban people, hit by recent hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

He then recalled that the 50th anniversary of bilateral relations between the two countries will be marked in three years.

Mutual respect

Roque replied that bilateral relations are marked by long-standing friendship on the basis of mutual respect, solidarity and frequent exchange.

He also thanked Nicosia for its support at the UN of the Cuban resolution demanding the unconditional lifting of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade against the Caribbean island.

Cyprus and Cuba established diplomatic relations on November 22, 1960.

Kyprianou’s meetings there included one with House President Ricardo Alarcon and with Fernando Remirez de Estenoz, member of the Secretariat of Cuba’s Communist Party Central Committee.

He also paid tribute to Cuban national hero Joss Marti in his memorial in Revolution Square.



Is the RED "RoC" in danger of losing diaspora support and gaining even more US and UK anger!!!!

[utu]

Castro and Cyprus... Some persons in the international community may not like that very much... The USA Still does not care too much for Canadian contacts with Havana. I suppose that's why Cuban cigars are such a popular commodity for U.S. tourists up here...

[Nikitas]

Most European countries have diplomatic relations with Cuba, and trade between Cuba and the EU is flourishing, so is tourism. The USA has other, more pressing problems to think about now. This is not a front burner type of thing.

[utu]

Most European countries have diplomatic relations with Cuba, and trade between Cuba and the EU is flourishing, so is tourism. The USA has other, more pressing problems to think about now. This is not a front burner type of thing.

Not while the expatriate Cuban community in the key states of Florida and New York continues to constitute an important voting bloc for the two main political parties in the USA...

[observer]

Most European countries have diplomatic relations with Cuba, and trade between Cuba and the EU is flourishing, so is tourism. The USA has other, more pressing problems to think about now. This is not a front burner type of thing.

I wonder how many Cypriots will be taking their holidays in Cuba next year.

[CBBB]

All the cigar smokers.

[EPSILON]

Castro and Cyprus... Some persons in the international community may not like that very much... The USA Still does not care too much for Canadian contacts with Havana. I suppose that's why Cuban cigars are such a popular commodity for U.S. tourists up here...

This my friend reminds me some clever political movements in Cyprus in 70's/ Of course that time the president of no mistake made was governed.

One no mistake president in Cyprus, that time, one no mistake prime minister in Greece same time (you know big leaders of the nation) (Karamanlis/Makarios) = big leaders - shorter country.