Greek Engagement with Cuba

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/01/14
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SOCI CU GR
SUBJECT: Greek Engagement with Cuba

REF: 09 STATE 131637; 09 ATHENS 841

CLASSIFIED BY: Deborah A. McCarthy, Deputy Chief of Mission; REASON:
1.4(B),(D)


1. (C) On January 13, Poloff raised REF A points with Anastopoulos
Chanos, Second Secretary in the MFA A8 Directorate for South
America and the Caribbean. Econoff also raised points with Ioannis
Klonias, MFA B5 Directorate for Economic Relations with Central and
South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. According to the MFA
officials, Greece will continue to follow EU consensus on all
Cuba-related issues and was supportive of an EU policy that was
"balanced" and focused on both human rights as well as
opportunities for engagement. Chanos said Greece had no strong
policy interests either way regarding Cuba and that the Greece-Cuba
relationship was currently limited to an occasional exchange of
official visitors and consular support of the small Greek community
in Havana.




2. (C) The last Cuban official to visit Greece was Fernando
Remirez de Estenoz Barciela, Head of the Department of
International Relations of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of Cuba. Remirez met briefly with with President Karolos
Papoulias and former Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyiannis. (See REF
B.) The last meeting of MFA principals was in May 2006, when Cuban
Deputy Foreign Minister Eumelio Caballero (responsible for European
affairs) met Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Yannis Valinakis.




3. (C) Greece has diplomatic relations with Cuba and the two
countries exchanged ambassadors and had reciprocal embassies.
However, according to Chanos, Greek diplomats do not do any human
rights, opposition party, or civil society outreach, aside from
providing support to St. Nikolaos, a new Greek Orthodox Church
opened in Havana in 2004.




4. (C) The following information, obtained from MFA officials and
website (www.mfa.gr),may be useful for Libertad Act
considerations:



-- ACADEMIC RELATIONS: The University of Havana hosts one Greek
professor in Modern Greek Studies as part of the Chair of Classic
Literature. Greece has no other official, regular academic or
medical exchanges with Cuba. However, Chanos noted that Greek and
Cuban doctors may participate in private medical exchanges.



-- CULTURAL/ARTS RELATIONS: For the last several years, Greece has
not officially sponsored any cultural or arts exchanges with Cuba.
The Cuban embassy in Athens sponsors its own arts program, with a
December 2008 visit by the Cuban National Ballet and participation
by Cuban filmmakers in a Spanish-language film festival in May

2009.



-- ECONOMIC AND TRADE RELATIONS: The most recent public statistics
on trade are from 2003. During that year, Greek exports to Cuba
were 602,711 USD and Cuban exports to Greece 773,839 USD. Tourism
statistics from 2004 show no tourists arrivals from Cuba, while
9,074 Greeks visited Cuba. With respect to investments that Greek
businesses have made in Cuba, Chanos said the MFA does not track
this information. Chanos stated that he did not think Greek
businesses had made any large-scale investments in Cuba, but they
could not confirm this with certainty as Greek businesses are not
required to file information with the government regarding their
foreign investments. Chanos confirmed that no Greek state-owned
energy or public utilities companies had investments in Cuba.

ATHENS 00000021 002 OF 002


-- BILATERAL AGREEMENTS: The following agreements between Greece
and Cuba are in force:



- Educational Agreement (1983)

- Agreement on the Mutual Encouragement and Protection of
Investments (1996)

- Agreement on Economic and Technological Cooperation (1997)

- Air Cooperation Agreement (1998)

- Memorandum of understanding on Cooperation between the Ministries
of Foreign Affairs (2001, signed during visit of Cuban Foreign
Minister Felipe Prez Roque to Greece)
Speckhard