Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ZAGREB830
2008-12-05 13:44:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Zagreb
Cable title:  

CUBA: CROATIA'S COUNTRY REVIEW FOR SUSPENSION OF

Tags:  ETRD ETTC PREL HR CROATIA CU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0006
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVB #0830 3401344
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 051344Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8824
INFO RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID IMMEDIATE 0494
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA IMMEDIATE 0007
C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000830

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SCE (WESTLEY) AND WHA/CCA (MCFARLAND)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/01/2018
TAGS: ETRD ETTC PREL HR CROATIA CU
SUBJECT: CUBA: CROATIA'S COUNTRY REVIEW FOR SUSPENSION OF
TITLE III OF THE LIBERTAD ACT

REF: STATE 126578

Classified By: Rick Holtzapple, PolEcon Counselor, for reasons 1.4 (b)
& (d).

(C) Croatia has only limited relations with Cuba. It has
diplomatic relations, but no Embassy in Havana. It covers
Cuba from the Croatian Embassy in Madrid. There have been no
high-level visits to Cuba by Croatian officials in 2008.
According to Neven Pelicaric, who will be arriving in Madrid
as Croatia's new Ambassador to both Spain and Cuba in January
2009, President Mesic had considered scheduling a visit to
Havana for December 2008, but the visit had been postponed
indefinitely when advisors and diplomats indicated that such
a visit would be more trouble than it was worth. Pelicaric,
who had asked the Embassy for a briefing on US policy toward
Cuba unrelated to reftel tasking, told us Croatia is
generally supportive of EU policy toward Cuba, but has never
been engaged in any of the specifics. There are no
significant Croatian investments in Cuba, with the main trade
deal having been a contract for a Croatian telecoms firm in
the mid-1990s to replace all of Cuba's main switchboards.
More recently, there had been exploratory talks of business
deals in pharmaceuticals, but no specific projects are in the
works at this time. Croatia has no exchange programs or
specific bilateral agreements with Cuba that Pelicaric was
aware of. The only noticeable economic activity between the
two countries was a recent rise in the number of Croatian
tourists.
BRADTKE