German foreign minister accepts invitation to Cuba
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (in photo above) met Tuesday in Brussels with his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, and accepted an invitation to visit Cuba later this year.
The last German government official to visit the island was Economics Minister Werner Müller in 2001. Earlier, in 2000, Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul met in Havana with Fidel Castro.
In Brussels Tuesday, Steinmeier welcomed the rapprochement between Cuba and the United States.
“I very much hope that this relaxation will be a positive contribution to a world that is in a difficult situation at the moment,” said the minister at a joint press conference with Rodríguez.
“I must honestly say that we in Europe and in Germany are happy that the stagnation and lack of communication between the United States and Cuba have been overcome after so many decades.”
Rodríguez pointed out that the modernization of the Cuban economy is an opportunity for Germany to invest in it.
According to Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, German exports to Cuba in 2014 were worth approximately 181 million euros. Cuban exports to Germany amounted to 48 million euros, compared with approximately 41 million euros in the previous year. Germany’s principal exports to Cuba were machinery, chemical and pharmaceutical products, plastic goods, food, medical equipment, motor vehicles and vehicle parts. Cuba’s main exports to Germany were alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and honey, as well as fruit and vegetable juices.
Another important element in bilateral economic relations is German tourism, which has been picking up since 2011. In 2014, nearly 140,000 of the 3 million foreign tourists who visited Cuba came from Germany, an increase of approximately 20 per cent, putting Germany in third place among the countries of origin, after Canada and the United States.
In 2000, a bilateral debt restructuring agreement settled the matter of Cuba’s foreign debts to Germany.
Steinmeier and Rodríguez were taking part in a two-day summit between the European Union and CELAC, the Economic Community of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Separate talks between the European Union and Cuba, dealing with the EU’s “common position” on trade, were held in Havana in early March, when EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini visited the island. The next meeting will be held in Brussels, June 15-16.
At this week’s summit, both the EU and CELAC asked Washington to lift its trade embargo against Cuba. And during Mogherini’s visit in March, the EU and Cuba signed a framework agreement on dialogue and cooperation.
A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the 59-year-old Steinmeier has served as Foreign Minister since 2013. He also held that post from 2005 to 2009.
According to the German magazine Der Spiegel, while in Cuba Steinmeier would likely meet with President Raúl Castro and maybe gain “an audience” with former President Fidel Castro as other European officials have.
