WATCH ABOVE: Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks at the Summit of the Americas on human rights issues and security.
PANAMA CITY – Stephen Harper says he had a “good and long discussion” on Saturday with Cuban President Raul Castro at a hemispheric summit, marking a change of heart for the prime minister when it comes to the communist nation.
The leaders’ conversation at the Summit of the Americas in Panama followed an earlier handshake at a photo-op.
“I have become convinced that a different approach is appropriate at this point in time,” Harper told reporters in Panama City shortly after meeting Castro.
“We’re at a point where an engagement is more likely to lead us to where want to go than continued isolation.”
It’s a different approach than the one Harper has taken with Cuba in the past.
Harper initially opposed inviting Cuba to this year’s summit because it was not a democracy and he has had strong words about the Cuban regime. He has also been a vocal critic of communism.
Harper was careful Saturday to point out that more work is necessary on the Caribbean island.
“We are not by any means unconcerned about the lack of democratic space and human-rights abuses in Cuba.”
“We are not by any means unconcerned about the lack of democratic space and human-rights abuses in Cuba,” Harper told reporters in Panama City.
“We’ve always been clear on that and we will continue to be clear on that.”
Harper said he and Castro discussed the long relationship between the two countries – on political, tourism and commercial levels.
The prime minister, who also noted how Canada helped facilitate a deal between the U.S. and Cuba to work toward normalizing their diplomatic relations, gave little additional information about his own chat with Castro or how long it lasted.
“We had a good and long discussion with the president,” said Harper, who noted that he was joined by Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson for the meeting.
The prime minister had never met Castro before this weekend’s gathering in Central America.
Harper’s meeting was overshadowed by Castro’s meeting earlier in the day with U.S. President Barack Obama. It was the first formal, face-to-face talks between American and Cuban leaders in more than half a century.
Obama and Castro sat side by side in a conference room in a bid to inject fresh momentum into their effort to restore diplomatic ties.
Castro told Obama he was ready discuss sensitive issues including human rights and freedom of the press, saying, “everything can be on the table.” But he also cautioned that the two countries have “agreed to disagree.”
The Cuba issue overtook a summit that it had never been invited to since the gatherings first started in 1994.
Earlier in the day, Harper mentioned how Canada played a role facilitating negotiations between U.S. and Cuba in his five-minute speech to summit leaders.
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