BELARUS - LIBERTAD ACT

UNCLAS MINSK 000984 SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CCA AND EUR/UMB SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETTC ETRD PREL BO CU SUBJECT: BELARUS - LIBERTAD ACT Ref: A. State 158768 ¶B. Minsk 422 ¶C. 06 Minsk 1255 Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Although the frequency of high-level contacts between Belarus and Cuba has subsided since 2006, the GOB continues to build economic relations with Cuba (ref B). It has consistently offered the Cuban regime strong support and has no interest in promoting democracy, human rights or free market reforms. End summary. Belarus, Cuba Strengthen Economic Ties... -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Belarus has signed over twenty five interstate and interagency agreements with Cuba, including agreements on trade and friendly relations. [Note: A history of these agreements and a list of Belarusian firms with trade and investment relations in Cuba was reported in late 2006 (ref C) and remains valid. End note.] Cuban Ambassador to Belarus Omar Medina Quintero noted that a military-technical agreement signed in 2006 was being actively implemented. ¶3. (SBU) Belarusian tourism to Cuba has grown considerably, from just 17 tourists in 2005 to approximately 1000 in 2007. [Note: This does not include the thousands of Belarusian children from Chernobyl-affected zones who have traveled to Cuba for rest and recuperation since 1991. End note.] Cuba has proposed additional economic cooperation with Belarus in the fields of oil refining, tourism and the pharmaceutical industry, though Belarus reportedly rejected an offer to purchase Cuban technology for the production of a Hepatitis B vaccine. Bilateral trade in the first nine months of 2007 increased 3.2 per cent to USD 18.3 million, with Belarusian exports to Cuba growing dramatically (94.2 per cent). ...and Belarus Continues Political Support for Cuba -------------- -------------- ¶4. (U) In a July 2007 greeting sent to Fidel Castro on the occasion of Cuba's "Rebellion Day," Aleksandr Lukashenko called Cuba "Belarus' main strategic partner in Latin America," and said that Belarus-Cuba cooperation in the U.N., the Non-Aligned Movement and other fora had been fruitful. The GOB has displayed no interest in human rights, democracy or free market reform in Cuba. Delegations -------------- ¶5. (U) As part of the celebration to mark the 90th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, a delegation of the Communist Party of Cuba visited Minsk in November 2007. The speaker of the lower house of Belarus' National Assembly, Vadim Popov, will lead a delegation to Havana in 2008. Stewart