SUNS  4322 Thursday 12 November 1998

Havana, Nov 9 (IPS/Patricia Grogg) -- Cuba's admission to the Latin American Integration Association (Aladi) is one more step in the restoration of the Caribbean island's ties with Latin America, according to Cuban Foreign Ministry officials.

Aladi's Council of Ministers voted unanimously Friday in Montevideo to accept Cuba's admission into the regional body that links Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The aim of Aladi, which is based in the Uruguayan capital, is to create gradually a Latin American common market, and to this end, it facilitates negotiations on regional tariff accords and other aspects of trade.

"Cuba's trade with the members of Aladi has grown steadily over the past few years, and obviously our integration in that mechanism will provide a further boost to that relationship," Foreign Ministry
sources, who preferred not to be identified, told IPS.

According to the latest reports issued by Aladi, trade between the 11 members of the organisation and Cuba grew 41% from 1989 to 1996 - from $552 million to $780 million a year. Last year, Cuba's trade with Aladi members accounted for 70% of its trade with the entire region.

In the wake of the disappearance of the East European socialist bloc and the break-up of the Soviet Union, Cuba was forced to turn elsewhere for partners, and trade with Latin America and the Caribbean rose sharply.

In 1997, more than 30% of Cuba's total foreign trade was conducted with Latin America and the Caribbean, which became its second biggest trading partner, after Europe.

Cuba already had preferential trade accords with nine Aladi members when it applied for admission to the regional body in March. It is also a party to global accords signed within the framework of Aladi, in which it has participated as an observer since 1985.

For Cuban researcher and integration expert Tania Garcia, admission to Aladi will consolidate Cuba's reinsertion into the Latin American market as well as the diversification of its foreign trade - the greatest safeguard in the context of today's global markets crisis. Garcia told IPS that the step could contribute to the reactivation of Cuba's economy, in the grips of a severe economic crisis over the past eight years, by enabling new levels of investment and trade relations.

Cuba's admission to Aladi also shows that integration between countries with different economic and social systems is possible, without affecting national affairs, she added. Cuba will enter Aladi in the medium-development category alongside Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, and will pay an annual quota of $120,000, which will gradually increase to $200,000 over the next five years.

Cuban officials with ties to Aladi said the recent partial opening of the Cuban economy and the fact that it complies with all World Trade Organisation (WTO) norms played in its favour.

Although it was expelled from the Organisation of American States (OAS) in 1962 and is not part of negotiations between the 34 OAS member countries for a future Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), Cuba has diplomatic or consular ties with almost all Latin American and Caribbean nations.

On the integration front, it is a member of the Caracas-based Latin American Economic System (SELA), which coordinates economic actions designed to bolster regional integration.

Since 1983, Cuba has participated in the Caribbean Community (Caricom), and in 1994 was invited to become a founding member of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), a key mechanism for cooperation, consultation and coordination in the area, which could lead to the creation of a free trade area in the Caribbean.