ACP group admits Cuba as member

BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) -- The African, Caribbean and Pacific group of developing nations said on Thursday it had agreed to make Cuba a full member.

A spokesman for the group said the decision meant the pact now included 78 members. Cuba has up to now had observer status.

"Cuba was just admitted to the ACP," the spokesman said. "It will come into immediate effect."

Cuba refused earlier this year to join an ACP trade and aid pact with the European Union but had maintained its bid to secure ACP membership.

It withdrew its request in April to join the new ACP-EU Cotonou Agreement replacing the 25-year-old Lome convention in retaliation for some European governments' criticism of the human rights record of President Fidel Castro's Communist government.

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African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP)

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