Fidel Castro talks about Cuba's relations with Yugoslavia, the United States, and other countries in Latin America.

A summary of political, economic, and diplomatic developments involving Cuba produced by the Foreign Ministry in Yugoslavia. Summarizes Cuba's relations with Yugoslavia, the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and other countries in Latin America.

This excerpt is a part of the lengthy document from the Yugoslav Nuclear Energy Commission meeting held on April 16, 1979. The discussion included cooperation with different countries in the development of peaceful nuclear technology, exploration of options to acquire and sell uranium (yellowcake) on the global market without any restrictions, and joint programs in developing or exporting nuclear technology (Romania, Indonesia, and Iraq). 

The focus here is on investigating the possibility of constructing a nuclear reactor in Iraq in cooperation with France. The details are fuzzy, although it is undoubtedly the Osiraq nuclear reactor. Important for understanding the context is the fact that Yugoslavia and Iraq had already established lucrative barter arrangements on the principle “armaments for oil.” More importantly, the general undertone throughout this and other meetings of the Commission in a previous couple of years is the attempt of the Yugoslavs to find loopholes in the existing safeguards and other restrictions related to selling sensitive nuclear technology to other countries based on a belief that the NPT did not function and that the ‘nuclear haves’ were once again trying to reestablish much stricter monopoly on nuclear technology than before. 

Throughout the 1950s, Yugoslav nuclear policy was designed by President Tito and a small circle of his closest associates. Very few official documents from that time remain or indeed ever existed. Things began to change after the establishment of the UN Eighteen Nations Disarmament Committee (ENDC) in December 1961, followed by the committee’s first meeting in March 1962, which marked the beginning of global negotiations that eventually led to the signing of the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) in 1963. This initiative forced the Yugoslav political leadership to approach the problem more systematically. 

The short document presented here comes from the first meeting during which the Yugoslav nuclear policy started to be officially formulated. The meeting was organized by the Yugoslav State Secretariat for Foreign Affairs [Državni sekretarijat za inostrane poslove — DSIP] and included representatives of the Yugoslav People’s Army [Jugoslovenska narodna armija — JNA], the Institute for International Politics [Institut za međunarodnu politiku] and the Federal Nuclear Energy Commission [Savezna komisija za nuklearnu energiju — SKNE]. The main goal was to initiate the coordination of activities and permanent consultations between these institutions in order to provide expert support to the DSIP and better comprehension of the ongoing negotiations in the ENDC.

Kim Il Sung discusses new developments in inter-Korean relations and his views on the Non-Aligned Movement.

Kim expresses regret that he could not attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Colombo. He notes that the Prime Minister, Pak Seong-cheol, will attend in his place. Elsewhere, he discusses the political situation in South Korea, and the work of the summit.

Kim Il Sung discusses South Korean leader Park Chung Hee, as well as the revolt in Busan and Masan on the 19th April 1960 and the uprising that broke out in October. Elsewhere, Kim discusses policy towards the US and South Korea regarding the resolution of the unification issue, and of the DPRK’s proposal for a peaceful solution. He thanks Tito for his active support and solidarity towards the DPRK.

Tito strongly suggests the socialist countries should achieve unity. He also discussed a letter from US Secretary States Vance concerning a trilateral dialogue between the U.S., South Korea, and the DPRK.

Kim Il Sung concluded that trilateral talks with US, South Korea, and North Korea is an unrealistic solution for Korean reunification. He underlined that a true dialogue in regards of Korea issues has to come through the United States.

Tito appreciated the high delegation Kim sent to Yugoslavia and the strong contribution they made during the course of the Minister's Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement.