The European Union expects to reach a “contractual framework” agreement with Cuba by year’s end, said a top EU official. To date, 14 of the EU’s 27 member states have signed cooperation agreements with the Cuban government.

Christian Leffler is director for the Americas at the European External Action Service (EEAS) an agency that’s particularly close to the European Commission and Lady Ashton. Following a recent visit to Havana to negotiate the future characteristics of the EU-Cuba accord, he spoke of a “consensus to move forward” and noted that Cuba is the only country in Latin America lacking such an agreement with Brussels.

“We came with our ideas and expressed them,” he said. “We discussed our discrepancies to understand each other’s views and to look for areas of convergence in which we can cooperate bilaterally or at a multilateral level.”

Leffler said the EU remains one of Cuba’s top trading partners and ranks first when it comes to foreign investment in Cuba. He added that the island’s proposed new investment law will significantly encourage European investment, and that both parties are working jointly on projects connected to CELAC (Comunidad de Estados de Latinoamérica y el Caribe).

In mid-May, Rogelio Sierra, vice-minister of Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex), signed an accord with his Dutch counterpart, Karen Van Oesterom. The treaty encompasses trade, investments, agriculture, water management, health, biotechnology, culture and sports.

The imminent signing of this overall “contractual framework” between the EU and Cuba will render the 10-year-old Posición Común sponsored by former Spanish President José María Aznar obsolete. It’ll also represent Havana’s full normalization of ties with the EU and its member states further isolating Washington when it comes to the Cuba issue