THE Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Agreement (Alba-TCP) called on Wednesday for the promotion of “respect, inclusion and partnership at the forthcoming the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the European Union (CELAC-EU).

The third CELAC-EU summit is set for July 17 and 18 in Belgian capital Brussels under the theme of “Renewing the bi-regional partnership to strengthen peace and sustainable development.”

The 10 members of Alba are Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Nicaragua, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela.

In a statement, the Alba-TCP member states said that it was “fundamental that the summit promote a transparent, respectful, participatory, and plural debate that identifies solutions to collectively face the challenges of both regions and contributes to the strengthening of a true bi-regional strategic partnership.”

The alliance said that it hoped the summit will address the needs of the region’s populations and contribute to the “promotion of their legitimate aspirations for development.”

The statement underlined the importance placed by Alba-TCP on multilateralism as the way to face up to the different challenges of the world.

The regional body also called on the CELAC-EU summit to condemn “unequivocally the unilateral coercive measures illegally applied against some countries in the region.”

The statement also slammed “the unfounded inclusion of Cuba in the list of states that allegedly sponsor international terrorism.”

Earlier this week, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Rodriguez Parrilla slammed “the lack of transparency and the manipulative behaviour of the European Union in the preparation of the summit.”

On Wednesday Cuba was again forced to hit back at the actions of the European projects institutions. 

This time the Caribbean islands National Assembly hit back at a resolution adopted by the European Parliament calling for sanctions against Cuban officials for alleged “human rights violations.”

Cuba’s assembly said that the European Parliament’s resolution “reflects the application of double standards in the issuance of value judgements on issues to which that parliament pays no attention in the territory of its own member states and in other parts of the world.”

The Cubans said the European Parliament “lacks the moral, political, and legal authority to judge Cuba.”

The Cuban National Assembly said that “this resolution contributes to the US attempt to isolate Cuba internationally and justify its genocidal blockade that has inflicted so much damage on the Cuban people for more than 60 years.”