The Ambassador of Cuba to Austria, Juan Antonio Fernández Palacios held a meeting with Dr. Andreas Schieder, Chairman of the Federal Parliamentarian Committee on Foreign Affairs of that country and Chief Executive Officer of the Fraction of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ, by its German initials) in this legislative body.
The Ambassador underlined the positive state of the relations between Cuba and the EU with the beginning of the provisional implementation of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement signed between Cuba and the European bloc last year. The Agreement has been already ratified by 13 EU Member States and it is in process of ratification by the rest of the Parliaments, including Austria.
Schieder was interested by the current situation of Cuba and the state of the relations with US. The Ambassador also offered extensive information about the updating process of the Cuban economic and social model and the new leadership of the Councils of State and Ministers of the country.
As the leader of the fraction, the social-democratic politician was part of the official delegation of the Federal President of Austria, Heinz Fischer who visited Cuba in March 2016 on the occasion of the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the bilateral diplomatic relations. At present, SPÖ is the second political force in the Austrian Federal Parliament.
(Embacuba Austria)