Havana, Oct 20 (IANS): Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called on the US government to lift its decades-long trade embargo, or blockade, against the country.
"The US blockade has caused Cuba losses valued at $3.806 billion between August 2021 and February 2022," Xinhua news agency quoted the Minister as saying.
The call comes ahead of the Cuban government's annual submission to the UN General Assembly of a draft resolution calling for an end to the embargo.
The General Assembly is scheduled to discuss and vote on the draft resolution in early November.
US trade sanctions, Rodriguez said, severely limit Cuba's access to food, medicine, technology and inputs on the international market.
"The world would be a better place without the US blockade against Cuba," he added.
First imposed in 1962, the embargo was broadened by former US President Donald Trump, who put in place 243 more sanctions, including banning all flights from American to Cuban destinations except for Havana, and capping remittances Cuban Americans can send to their families back home.
The current US administration allowed airlines to resume flights to other Cuban cities and lifted the cap on remittances, but the web of sanctions against Havana remains largely in place.
For 29 times in a row, the UN General Assembly has voted in favour of the resolution urging the US to end its embargo against Cuba.