MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cuba to sign economic treaty in Mercosur summit

Cuba will sign a multilateral economic complementation agreement with Mercosur at the end of July when the group's presidential summit scheduled to be held in Cordoba, Argentina. However the participation of Fidel Castro has not been confirmed.

The Cuban embassy in Buenos Aires confirmed the coming of the delegation from Havana July 20/21, when Argentina officially hands the rotating six months Mercosur chair to Brazil.

"Cuba is participating with a delegation but it must not be interpreted as a step towards the integration of Cuba to Mercosur, but rather for the specific purpose of signing this very significant multilateral agreement", indicated the Cuban embassy in a release.

Argentina's Deputy Secretary for American Economic Integration and Mercosur Affairs Eduardo Sigal said that the "agreement with Cuba will basically unify all bilateral treaties with each of Mercosur country member".

"It's a multilateral effort which is not easy since it's not a simple addition of treaties but rather making all agreements compatible to the benefit of all", added Mr. Sigal who underlined that it includes a system of "tariff preferences" on which "we have been working since 2004".

Meantime in Montevideo, Uruguay a local newspaper La Republica, which acts as government spokesman, announced Cuba's Fidel Castro would be visiting Montevideo next November for the XVI Ibero-American Summit.

Apparently Cuban agents are already in Montevideo working in security matters with the help of local intelligence and security forces. La Republica alleges that Mr. Castro in his 47 years as Cuban leader has suffered an estimated 600 attacks or attempted attacks on his life.