A moving spirit in the Conference was Ambassador Sally Cowal, formerly U.S. Ambassador to several Caribbean countries, now President of the Cuban Policy Foundation based in Washington D.C. Ambassador Cowal, a Republican, is campaigning vigorously for the lifting of the U.S. Government's 40-year old embargo on Cuba.

Her reasons are straightforward: the embargo is counter-productive politically as well as being economically harmful to the United States. Lifting the embargo would provide significant opportunities for U.S. exporters in sectors like agriculture and pharmaceuticals.

The Foundation's research, funded in part by U.S. corporations with an interest in the Cuban market, has quantified such opportunities. The results are targeted to members of the U.S. Congress whose constituencies stand to gain from exports to Cuba.

Attending the Wilton Park Cuba Conference were senior Cuban officials and academics and key figures from Latin American and Caribbean think tanks, the Washington-based financial institutions and the European Commission. The setting was ideal for making the kind of informal contacts that often precede major policy developments.

In a paper prepared for the Conference, this columnist observed that the end of the Cold War has provided the context for Cuba-Caribbean relations to develop along pragmatic and businesslike lines.

In 1989 Cuba had formal diplomatic relations with only 9 states of the Greater Caribbean region and no formal trade or economic agreements. Trade was almost entirely with the oil-exporting countries.

By 2002 diplomatic relations had been established with 24 regional states, trade and economic cooperation agreements had been signed with nine and with CARICOM as a whole, and trade relations had been developed with most (see Table). Cuba has also become a significant recipient of investment from Mexico in tourism and banking and from Jamaica, also in tourism.

In addition, over 6,800 students from the Greater Caribbean region are on scholarship in Cuban institutions, mostly in medicine, public health and sport.

Cuba-Greater Caribbean (ACS Members) Trade, 1990-1999. (in $US millions).
Country/				Year
ACS Subgroup	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
OECS
Antigua/Barbuda	0	0	0	0	0	3.6	2.18	7.64	0	0
Dominica	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0.05	0.45	0	0
Grenada	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
St.Kitts/Nevis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.08	0	0	0
St.Lucia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
St.Vincent/Gren.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total OECS	0	0	0	0	0	3.61	2.3	8.08	0	0
CARICOM
Bahamas	0	0	0	0	0	1.17	18.74	9.21	0	0
Barbados	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.14	0.04	0	0.1
Belize	0	0	0	0	0	4	19	0.01	0	32
Guyana	7	8	8	10	12	15	18	19	16	23.3
Haiti	0	0	0	0	0	16	17.36	21.21	0	0
Jamaica	0	0	0	0	0	2.73	3.36	4.38	0	0
Suriname	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.11	0.63	0	0
Trinidad/Tobago	42	5	13	11	7	22.05	28.04	31.47	0	16.7
Total CARICOM	49	13	21	21	19	64.56	107.4	94.03	16	72.1
CACM
Costa Rica	1	1	1	2	6	0	2	0	0	0
El Salvador	0	0	0	0	1	3	0.05	0.61	0	1
Guatemala	0	0	0	0	0	1.43	4.25	10.82	0	0
Honduras	0	0	0	0	0	0.15	2.24	4.79	0	0
Nicaragua	0	0	0	0	0	6.48	4.23	2.62	0	17.2
Total CACM	1	1	1	2	7	11.06	12.77	18.83	0	18.2
G-3
Colombia	22	22	19	25	51	39	43	52	18	37.2
Mexico	167	160	137	72	203	397	373	0	0	23
Venezuela	519	496	107	136	105	117	127	145	1	156.7
Total G-3	708	678	263	233	359	553	543	197	19	216.9
Non-grouped
Dominican Rep.	0	0	1	0	0	16.01	12.54	39.98	0	0
Panama	2	2	1	2	2	6.63	8.49	4.34	5	7.5
Total NG	2	2	2	2	2	22.63	21.03	44.32	5	7.5
Overall Total	760	694	287	258	387	654.9	686.5	362.26	40	314.7

The Association of Caribbean States (ACS), in which Cuba was a founding member in 1994, provided a broad multilateral framework for developing relations of functional cooperation with the entire region. Cuba has chaired the ACS Committees on Tourism and on Transport and has provided leadership to major initiatives in sustainable tourism and air transport policy; as well as participating in others such as the protection of coastal ecosystems, language training, the Caribbean Environmental Strategy, cooperation in natural disasters prevention and mitigation, and the ACS Special Fund.

Heads of State and Government of the ACS have condemned the U.S. Helms-Burton Act, which seeks to tighten the embargo through extra-territoriality provisions.

The Wilton Park Cuba Conference is one more step in the normalization and further development of Cuba's relations with its neighbours in the hemisphere.

Professor Norman Girvan is Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States. The views expressed are not necessarily the official views of the ACS. Feedback can be sent to mail@acs-aec.org.

(ends)

November 1, 2002