TURKEY RESPONSE ON LIBERTAD ACT REVIEW

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000722 SIPDIS WHA/CCA FOR GABRIELA ZAMBRANO E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/19/2019 TAGS: ETRD ETTC PREL CU TU SUBJECT: TURKEY RESPONSE ON LIBERTAD ACT REVIEW REF: A. STATE 48487 ¶B. 08 ANKARA 2096 Classified By: Economic Counselor Dale Eppler for reasons 1.4 (b) and ( d). ¶1. (SBU) Turkey does not have significant economic or political interests in Cuba. ¶2. (C) Further detail on Ref A questions is provided below: -- Turkey supports European Union efforts to promote democracy and human rights, but has not undertaken any unilateral efforts along those lines. -- There have not been any high-level diplomatic visits between Cuba and Turkey over the past six months. -- Turkey's trade and investment activities with Cuba are negligible. Trade reached a high point of USD 33 million in 2007, but declined to just over USD 20 million in 2008. The vast majority of bilateral trade consists of Turkish exports to Cuba - Cuban exports to Turkey totaled less than USD 1 million in 2008. Turkey and Cuba have had an economic cooperation agreement since 1996 and there is a Joint Economic Commission which is supposed to meet annually but in practice meets less frequently. The last meeting of this body was in March 2008 in Ankara. -- On May 14, the University of Havana signed a cooperation agreement with Ankara University. This agreement envisages increased inter-university research cooperation, especially in the field of agriculture, and the establishment of a Center for Latin American Studies at Ankara University. The Turkish government also maintains a scholarship program for up to three Turkish students to study in Cuba, but regularly has difficulty finding candidates, as reported in Ref B. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey JEFFREY