ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Foreign Office said on Thursday that Pakistan welcomes the announcement made by the US President Barack Obama to re-establish diplomatic ties with Cuba and pursue a policy of engagement rather than isolation.
“We regard this decision by US and Cuba as a step in the right direction for which the leadership of the two countries deserves credit,” the Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said in a statement.
The spokesperson said that Pakistan has consistently been supporting the lifting of sanctions against Cuba at the United Nations.
“We hope that the US decision would go a long way in brining the people of both countries closer and pave the way for greater stability in the region,” the statement said,
The United States and Cuba have agreed to restore diplomatic ties severed more than 50 years ago.
The US imposed a trade embargo against Cuba in 1960 and the two countries have not had diplomatic relations since 1961.
“I do not believe we can continue doing the same thing for over five decades and expect a different result,” Obama said while speaking from the White House on Wednesday.
The US Secretary of State John Kerry also said in a statement that a US delegation would travel to Cuba next month to “discuss moving toward re-establishment of diplomatic relations”.
“I look forward to being the first Secretary of State in 60 years to visit Cuba. At President Obama’s request, I have also asked my team to initiate a review of Cuba’s designation as a `state sponsor of terrorism’,” Kerry said.
