Cuba–Vanuatu relations
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Relations between Vanuatu and Cuba began shortly after the former gained its independence from France and the United Kingdom in 1980, and began establishing its own foreign policy as a newly independent state. Vanuatu and Cuba established official diplomatic relations in 1983.[1]
History
Early Cuban-Vanuatu relations must be considered within the scope of Vanuatu's resolutely independent foreign policy. Rejecting alignment with the
In 1984, a Cuban diplomatic delegation visited Vanuatu, and E. Huffer suggests that this visit was instrumental in prompting the
Vanuatu was the birthplace of Melanesian socialism, a doctrine promoted by Prime Minister Father Walter Lini, combining socialism, Christianity and traditional Melanesian values, which gave Vanuatu and Cuba some degree of common ideological ground - although Melanesian socialism may be seen as closer to Christian communism than to Marxism. In 1983, however, ni-Vanuatu Foreign Minister Sela Molisa stated that Vanuatu's joining the Non-Aligned Movement was born of a wish for neutrality, and that "the ni-Vanuatu government and the Vanua'aku Pati do not adhere to any ideology".[1]
Lini lost office in 1991, and, under his successor
More recently, in the 2000s, quasi-dormant relations between the two countries have been revived, in the context of
References
- ^ ISBN 2-7099-1125-6.
- ISBN 0-8248-2048-7, pp.25-6
- ^ "Small Island States and Global Challenges", Cuban News Agency, September 30, 2008
- ^ "Cuban Physicians to Aid 81 Nations"[permanent dead link], Prensa Latina, March 29, 2008
- Radio New Zealand International. September 17, 2008. Archived from the originalon May 22, 2011. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
Representatives from Kiribati, Tuvalu, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Samoa, Micronesia and Papua New Guinea are attending the first Cuba-Pacific Islands ministerial meeting that ends on Thursday.
- Cuban News Agency. September 16, 2008. Archived from the originalon June 14, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
Perez Roque expressed Cuba's special interest in helping small developing islands which are threatened to be submerged by the ocean as a result of climate change.