POLITICS-CUBA/GERMANY: Development Aid Boosts Relations

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, May 24 2000 (IPS) - Germany’s Foreign Aid and Development minister wrapped up a visit to Cuba Tuesday that underscored her government’s desire to improve relations with the island after maintaining its distance for decades.

Minister Heidimarie Wieczorek-Zeul continued on to Brazil after concluding a three-day visit that included meetings with president Fidel Castro, several ministers and even representatives from the political opposition, in addition to signing a bilateral collaboration agreement.

The important thing is dialogue, to find a common language in order to better understand each other, said the visitor, after signing the pre-agreement with the Cuban minister of Co-operation and Foreign Investment, Marta Lomas.

According to the text, both governments agree to establish bilateral co-operation and jointly implement a support project for Cubas National Programme to Fight Desertification and Drought.

In the first stages of the three-year anti-desertification programme, Germany will provide some three million marks – approximately 1.36 million dollars.

The programme calls for the development and application of integral management techniques in the islands eastern Cauto river valley and involves State institutions and non-governmental organisation from both countries.

The experiences from this first project should create the foundations for further collaboration at the State, non-governmental and private levels, says the document, which explicitly states the interest of both parties in long-term development assistance.

At the end of 1999, just seven of the 374 economic partnerships with foreign capital existing involved investments from Germany, a country that has become one of Cubas principal sources of tourists.

Wieczorek-Zeul reported that her government intends to increase private German investment in Cuba, where Spain currently dominates with 87 joint venture companies.

The minister said the letter of intent, signed in March by Cuban vice-president Carlos Lage during a visit to Berlin, was an important step toward resolving Cubas debts with Germany in the coming months.

Authorities from both countries believe debt renegotiation would allow German firms to obtain loans to invest in Cuba, as well as the renewal of export credits.

The German government is calling in payment on debts Havana contracted with the now-defunct German Democratic Republic (GDR), totalling some 500 million dollars, though the two parties have apparently not yet reached an agreement on how the debts are to be liquidated.

Diplomatic sources say Germanys policy towards Cuba has reached a turning point, though until recently the island had been excluded from Berlins priorities if the issue did not involve demanding changes in Cubas political regime or improving its human rights record.

Without discarding such concerns, Wieczorek-Zeul emphasised the role of political dialogue to handle divergent opinions and the great potential for building economic and trade ties.

Human rights are being fulfilled, she told journalists at a Havana press conference, though she did not mention her Saturday meeting with Elizardo Sánchez, president of the National Human Rights and Reconciliation Commission – an organisation the Castro government does not recognise -, and with two other members of the opposition.

The Cuban government tends to frown upon contact between foreign visitors of note and members of the internal dissidence, but on this occasion the Castro administration showed no sign of disapproval.

Wieczorek-Zeuls trip to Havana is the first by a high-ranking official from a European Union (EU) country since the bloc voted in favour of a United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution condemning Cubas record.

To express its annoyance with the resolution, the Cuban government called off a visit by the EU leadership, scheduled for this month, and withdrew its request to take part in a new accord between the ACP Group (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) and the European bloc.

Wieczorek-Zeul referred to the dispute saying Cuba should insist on admission into the ACP-EU agreement, and that she was confident her visit would help improve the islands relations not only with her country, but also with the entire EU.

Prior to Germanys reunification in 1990, relations between Havana and the former West Germany were hampered by Cubas support for the GRD, which did not recognise Bonns authority over West Berlin.