1/23/2015
Kerry Says Will Travel to Cuba “When It Is Appropriate” to Open U.S. Embassy
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said that he would travel to Cuba “when it is appropriate” to formally open a U.S. embassy in Havana, however there is still some way to go before he can proceed with the historic visit.
“I’m prepared, at the right time, to meet somewhere with my counterpart, the foreign minister (Bruno Rodriguez). We’ve talked on the phone a number of times. We’ll meet as appropriate,” Kerry told reporters Wednesday after a meeting with EU High Representative Federica Mogherini.
“And when it is timely, when it is appropriate, I look forward to traveling to Cuba in order to formally open an embassy and begin to move forward. But we have some things to accomplish before that is on us,” Kerry added.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson became the highest-ranking official from the country to arrive in Havana Wednesday for talks on immigration and normalization of relations between the two countries, a move that was announced in December.
The dialogue on resumption of diplomatic ties, scheduled to begin Thursday, would include U.S. and Cuba discussing the reopening of their respective embassies in Washington and Havana, which have remained shut since 1961.
“There’s certain things we have to negotiate as a matter of course. We have to negotiate lifting travel restrictions on diplomats. We have to negotiate lifting the caps on the numbers of diplomatic personnel. We have to have unimpeded shipments to our mission in order to be able to function correctly,” Kerry said.
“We need free access to the mission by Cubans, just as we will provide free access to the Cuban mission here in Washington by Americans or by anybody who comes,” he added.
Kerry stressed that these agreements required mutual consent and said that the delegation led by Jacobson would make efforts to meet this objective.
“So our hope is that the policy of normalization will put us in a stronger position to advance our interests and our values that I just talked about and to empower the people of Cuba ultimately,” Kerry said.
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Kerry Says Will Travel to Cuba “When It Is Appropriate” to Open U.S. Embassy
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said that he would travel to Cuba “when it is appropriate” to formally open a U.S. embassy in Havana, however there is still some way to go before he can proceed with the historic visit.“I’m prepared, at the right time, to meet somewhere with my counterpart, the foreign minister (Bruno Rodriguez). We’ve talked on the phone a number of times. We’ll meet as appropriate,” Kerry told reporters Wednesday after a meeting with EU High Representative Federica Mogherini.
“And when it is timely, when it is appropriate, I look forward to traveling to Cuba in order to formally open an embassy and begin to move forward. But we have some things to accomplish before that is on us,” Kerry added.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson became the highest-ranking official from the country to arrive in Havana Wednesday for talks on immigration and normalization of relations between the two countries, a move that was announced in December.
The dialogue on resumption of diplomatic ties, scheduled to begin Thursday, would include U.S. and Cuba discussing the reopening of their respective embassies in Washington and Havana, which have remained shut since 1961.
“There’s certain things we have to negotiate as a matter of course. We have to negotiate lifting travel restrictions on diplomats. We have to negotiate lifting the caps on the numbers of diplomatic personnel. We have to have unimpeded shipments to our mission in order to be able to function correctly,” Kerry said.
“We need free access to the mission by Cubans, just as we will provide free access to the Cuban mission here in Washington by Americans or by anybody who comes,” he added.
Kerry stressed that these agreements required mutual consent and said that the delegation led by Jacobson would make efforts to meet this objective.
“So our hope is that the policy of normalization will put us in a stronger position to advance our interests and our values that I just talked about and to empower the people of Cuba ultimately,” Kerry said.
source
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