Cuba: Raul Castro on state visit to Paris

[webfact]

Cuba: Raul Castro on state visit to Paris



"This visit is important for Cuba's image"

PARIS: -- Raul Castro is visiting France. The two-day trip is the first to Europe by a Cuban leader for two decades.

President Castro was received by French Environment Minister Segolene Royal

A state dinner with President Francois Hollande is also planned.

The Cuban delegation will also meet French business leaders and the head of UNESCO.

The deal

Analysts are viewing the trip as another step in the normalisation of Cuba’s relations with the West.

The visit comes in the wake of a breakthrough deal signed in November that lightens Havana’s foreign debt burden.

As Havana’s biggest creditor, France played a key role in December in a debt relief deal between Cuba and the foreign governments it owes money to.

Its Paris Club creditors agreed to forgive $8.5 billion in late interest payments of Cuba’s $11.9 billion in debt, including $4 billion in late payments due to France.

French companies investing in Cuba

Pernod-Ricard (produces Havana Club Rhum)
Accor (hotels)
Bouygues (construction)
Alcatel-Lucent (telecommunications)
Total and Alstom (energy)
At 180 million euros per year, trade between Paris and Havana has been described as “very slight”. (source:AFP)

Did you know?

In 2015, Francois Hollande became the first western head of state to visit Cuba since the 1959 revolution.

The French President visited in May.

What they are saying

“This visit is important for Cuba’s image.” – Eduardo Perera, University of Havana.

“It (the visit) is an additional gesture on France’s part after forgiving the late interest payments.” – an unidentified diplomatic source

“Trade is still not at the height of our ambitions.” – French external trade minister Mathias Fekl.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-02-02

[NeverSure]

Cuba is a textbook example of the destruction caused by communism. In the Revolution of 1959 the new (current) government stole the companies and the assets of foreign investors and ran them off. The people have been in abject poverty ever since.

Cuba is only 90 miles/140 kms from the US. It has lots of beaches and a climate similar to Florida. It should bustle like Hawaii, or even better. It should have a tourism business second to none and more manufacturing investment than it can handle. It should have lots of good jobs and prosperous people. But who would trust them enough to build anything with their history of stealing it?

Due to embargoes and their own stupidity what few cars they have were mostly made in the 1950's or earlier. Somehow they keep them running. It's a capsule that time forgot.

[trogers]

Today, the streets of Cuba are safer than the streets of France.

Ironic isn't it?