CUBA, October, 2016. - For nearly an hour, the Director General of the United States Division for the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Josefina Vidal answered, from her Twitter account, questions by journalists and citizens interested on the topics treated in the 4th Meeting of the Bilateral Commission, held in Washington last Friday, September 30.
«In today's meeting, which was developed in a constructive way, we decided to coordinate seven visits of high level for the next five weeks, » the diplomatic presiding over the Cuban delegation told JR. «We also agreed to have a tens of technical meetings on topics of bilateral interest and dialogues on bilateral and multilateral aspects also of interest and benefit to all. »
«In December we will have the fifth and last meeting of the Bilateral Commission during the government of President Obama. However, Cuba has moved its interest and willingness to maintain this mechanism in the future. We will see what happens about it, » Josefina Vidal noted.
«Our will and aspiration is that the bilateral process begun on December 17, 2014 will be irreversible. We have been working hard in that direction. »
The Bilateral Commission is a mechanism established on August 2015, on the occasion of the visit to Havana of the Secretary of State John Kerry. That commission met in September of that year and later in May 2016.
According to the press release by the Cuban delegation, during the meeting was confirmed the progress in the resumption of regular flights between the two countries; the adoption of agreements on cooperation in health, and fighting drug trafficking.
In addition, that progress is shown when «conducting technical meetings on the environment, geodesy and hydrography, aviation security and aviation, terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking and immigration fraud, mutual assistance in criminal matters, security of passenger flow and goods, and cybersecurity, » the note added.
Among the topics covered are also «the implementation of the collaboration program for the teaching of English in Cuba» and it was reported that «the regulatory talks and talks about bilateral compensations were continued during this period, as well as the negotiations between Cuba- U.S.-Mexico for delimiting the Eastern Polygon in the Gulf of Mexico. »
The Cuban side stressed that results in the economic sphere remain being few, because of the effect of the blockade, a policy that must be eliminated to advance in the economic, trade and financial relations, as it was expressed on September 12, during the First Meeting on Economic Talk, the mechanism in the Bilateral Commission to address these issues.
Cuba insisted on the return of the territory illegally occupied by the US Naval Base in Guantánamo, and the elimination of interfering policies, like the programs to promote internal changes in Cuba and the use of informatics and communication technology for political purposes.
In her answers on Twitter, Josefina Vidal said that the existing preferential US immigration policy for Cuban citizens, expressed in the Cuban Adjustment Act, also need to be modified, as well as the "wet-foot-dry-foot" policy, and the Program of Parole for Cuban medical professionals that stimulate illegal and unsafe migration, deprive Cuba of vital human resources, and create increasing difficulties to other countries.
«We have approached the topic again, Josefina Vidal insisted, in the migration talks in July, we did it again today, and will continue doing it. »
The Cuban delegation was also composed of the Cuban Ambassador in Washington José Ramón Cabañas, and Deputy Adviser for the Commission of Defense and Homeland Security Abel Enrique González Santamaría.
The US side was led by Acting Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the State Department Mari Carmen Aponte and the Director of Policy Planning Jonathan Finer; and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs John Creamer, and the Charge d'affaires of the US Embassy in Havana Jeffrey DeLaurentis, recently nominated by President Barack Obama for the post of ambassador, position to be endorsed by the Senate, also participated.
(Cubavsbloqueo-Cubaminrex)
