Raul Castro meets French envoy sent by Sarkozy

[Judi Lynn]

Raul Castro meets French envoy sent by Sarkozy
Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:33pm IST
By Jeff Franks

HAVANA (Reuters) - French envoy Jack Lang met with Cuban President Raul Castro on Wednesday as France moved to improve relations with the Communist island in hopes of steering it toward political openness and rapprochement with the United States.

Lang, dispatched to Cuba by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said he and Raul Castro talked for two hours in what he said was a "direct and friendly" climate between two countries that had strained relations in recent years.

France, said Lang, wanted to be "the motor" pushing dialogue between Cuba and other parts of the world, but particularly the United States, which has imposed a trade embargo since 1962 against the island nation 90 miles (144 km) from its shores.

U.S. President Barack Obama represents "an important political change" that could bring an end to 50 years of hostilities with Cuba, he said.

"We want to substitute a climate of cooperation for confrontation," Lang said. "I'm very happy to think that we are living in a time when perhaps the end of the embargo will come."

More:
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-38225520090226