The Government of the Republic of Cuba is announcing the 3rd Conference "Nation and Emigration," to be held in Havana on 11-13 April 2003.

Attendance to this event will be on an invitation-only basis, which will be issued by the Conference's Organizing Committee.

We are convening all Cubans and their descendants residing abroad, who love Cuba and defend its freedom, independence and sovereignty.

For the first time ever and as proof of the expansion and strengthening of Cuba's relations with its émigrés, we are particularly calling upon the Cuban youths that, despite having been born in other countries, identify with their parents and grandparents' homeland. For them, the Conference will provide an opportunity for better knowledge about and a closer relationship with Cuba.

Particularly, we are calling upon Cubans living in the United States, since they account for the majority of Cubans residing abroad. They are also victims, as is our people, of the hostile policy that for decades has prevented the normal relations of that community with their relatives in our country.

Upon convening this 3rd Conference, the Government of the Republic of Cuba is mindful of the wide-ranging and fluent relations that an ever-increasing number of Cubans residing abroad have with our country. The progress made in the last few years confirms the need to maintain and improve this process. The 3rd Conference "Nation and Emigration" intends to follow up on the trail blazed by the Dialogue held in 1978 and the two previous conferences "Nation and Emigration".

Last year, the country was visited by three times as many Cubans residing abroad than in 1994, when the 1st Conference "Nation and Emigration" took place. Since then, a total of 600,000 visits by Cuban émigrés have been recorded. Likewise, several tens of thousands of our citizens have visited their relatives abroad in the last few years.

Today, the presence of Cuban émigrés is felt in many aspects of the social life of our country, increasing their contacts with their families and their presence in Cuban culture.

It is worth noting the significant number of Cubans who are part of solidarity movements with Cuba, set up in their countries of residence, and who actively oppose hostile actions against Cuba.

For all these reasons, the Government of the Republic of Cuba believes that this Conference will give us the opportunity to conduct a broad and direct exchange between the Cuban emigration and the Cuban authorities; an opportunity to identify new steps in our pursuit of ever normal and fluid relations between Cuban émigrés and our country; a further opportunity to exchange views on our common aspirations, to debate and bridge our differences, and work together towards our homeland's full independence, social justice and well-being.

The Government of the Republic of Cuba
20 October 2002