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German FM travels to Cuba

July 15, 2015

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is set to be the first German foreign minister to travel to Cuba in 25 years. He will be travelling to the island state following recent moves to open the country up to the West.

https://p.dw.com/p/1Fyy9
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/EPA/H. Punz

Frank-Waler Steinmeier's upcoming travels to Cuba represent the first time that a German foreign minister has travelled to Havana since Germany’s reunification in 1990. The trip is reportedly aimed at developing lasting bilateral relations between Berlin and Havana after Cuba has recently taken steps toward liberalizing its economy.

There were no plans for Steinmeier to meet either with the ailing leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro or with his brother Raul Castro, who has been the nation's leader since 2006. But Steinmeier was confirmed to have talks scheduled with several Cuban ministers on Thursday and Friday; he will also meet the archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino.

In April 2015, US President Barack Obama had met Cuban leader Raul Castro, marking the first time the two nations' leaders had held substantive talks in more than five decades.

Barack Obama and Raul Castro
US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro have been establishing diplomatic ties againImage: Reuters

Following Obama’s initiative to fully restore diplomatic relations between the two countries, Cuba and the US are scheduled to reopen embassies in each other’s countries later this month, just days after Steinmeier's impending visit.

First trip of a German minister to Cuba in almost 15 years

Top officials from Germany's former communist east, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), used to travel to Cuba frequently; however, no ministers from West Germany visited Havana since its 1959 communist revolution.

With the German reunification of 1990, diplomatic ties between Cuba and reunified Germany began to thaw. Erstwhile Economic Affairs Minister Werner Müller had visited the Caribbean island nation in 2001.

ss/jil (AFP, dpa)