During the inauguration ceremony, European Council President Donald Tusk, announced the blocs decision to promote a trust fund to support post-conflict actions.

Tusk praised the peace dialog being carried out by the government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia.

He also hailed the process for the re-establishment and normalizations of relations between the United States and Cuba, announced last December 17th.

The EU “hopes for the complete normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States and the end of the embargo”, said Tusk, in reference to the economic, commercial and financial siege imposed to Cuba for the last fifty years.

This unfair policy was also rejected by Ecuador’s Head of State and CELAC pro tempore president Rafael Correa, who hailed the victory of dignity and sovereignty of the Cuban people and the process of re-establishment of relations with the United States.

However, he recalled that it is still necessary to eliminate the inhumane blockade and return to Cuba the illegally occupied territory of Guantanamo Bay.

According to the official program, during the first day of the Summit two closed-door sessions took place, one about the revitalization of the CELAC-EU association and other about the need to face global challenges together.

(Prensa Latina)

The Summit is to gather for two days in Brussels 60 leaders of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) with the objective to strengthen bilateral political and economic relations.

Tsipras is scheduled to meet with Presidents Michelle Bachelet (Chile), Dilma Rousseff (Brazil), Evo Morales (Bolivia), and Rafael Correa (Ecuador), as well as with First Vice President of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, and Argentinian Foreign Minister Hector Timerman.

The agenda of the Summit also includes international issues and climate change, in view of the International Conerence on Climate, to be held in Paris in December.

(Prensa Latina)