Cuba and EU ratify willingness to continue dialogue on unilateral coercive measures

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 25 (ACN) Cuba and the European Union (EU) ratified this Thursday their willingness to continue dialogue on unilateral coercive measures, on the basis of full respect for sovereign equality, independence, legality and non-interference in the internal affairs of States, during the Third Round of Dialogue, held virtually.

Below, the Cuban News Agency transmits in full the Press Release on the Third Round of the Dialogue on Unilateral Coercive Measures between Cuba and the European Union, published by the official website of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Cubaminrex.

This Thursday, March 25, 2021, the Third Round of the Dialogue on Unilateral Coercive Measures between Cuba and the European Union (EU), held under the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) between Cuba and the European Union, was held virtually. The event gave continuity to the meeting held in November 2019 in Havana.

The meeting, held in a respectful and constructive atmosphere, was conducive to an exchange on the damage caused by the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba, which affects both the Cuban people and the economic and commercial interests of the EU.

In particular, they underscored the unprecedented intensification of this genocidal policy in the context of the confrontation with COVID-19 and the obstacles it imposes for the prevention, treatment and development of vaccines against this disease.

The Cuban side expressed its appreciation for the EU's position in support of the Cuban resolution in the United Nations General Assembly calling for an end to the blockade, as well as the condemnation in multilateral forums of the application of Titles III and IV of the Helms-Burton Act, and the denunciation of Cuba's inclusion on the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

An essential segment of the Dialogue was the exchange on the existing normative provisions in the EU and its Member States to counteract the extraterritorial dimension of the coercive measures applied by the United States to our country.

In this sense, the Parties discussed Regulation 2271/96 of the Council of the European Union, as well as other initiatives that could be developed to face the extraterritorial application of the Helms-Burton Act.

The willingness of both parties to continue the dialogue on unilateral coercive measures, based on full respect for sovereign equality, independence, legality and non-interference in the internal affairs of States, was ratified.

The respective delegations were headed by María del Carmen Herrera Caseiro, Director General a.i. of Multilateral Affairs and International Law of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Javier Niño, Deputy Director General for the Americas of the European External Action Service.

Previously, on March 24, a meeting was held between representatives of Cuban and European civil society, in which points of view were exchanged on the damage caused by the application of the blockade, fundamentally in the performance of civil society during the confrontation of the COVID-19 pandemic.