International News

HAVANA, (APP/AFP) – Visiting British
foreign minister Philip Hammond reached an agreement on restructuring Cuban debt payments in a meeting Friday with President Raul Castro, officials in Havana said.
The agreement deals with Cuba’s mid and long-term debt with Britain,
according to a Cuban government statement.
The agreement “should contribute to the development of economic,
commercial and financial relations between the two nations,” the statement reads.
At the meeting, Castro and Hammond “verified the advances” in
bilateral relations and “the potentials” in areas of mutual interest.
Neither the British embassy in Havana nor Cuban officials gave a
figure for the debt, nor any further details on the agreement.
In December, Cuba reached an agreement with its creditors in the
Paris Club — which include Britain, France, and Spain — to pay $2.6 billion in debt unpaid to foreign creditors for the last 25 years.
In exchange, the Paris Club is writing off the interest accumulated
of $8.5 billion.
Hammond is the first British foreign secretary to visit Cuba since
the 1959 revolution.