Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos (left) talks with his Cuban counterpart Felipe Perez Roque at the foreign ministry in Havana yesterday. - Reuters

HAVANA, Cuba(Reuters):

Spain's foreign minister made an ice-breaking visit to Cuba yesterday, the most senior European Union government official to go to the island since a 2003 dispute over dissident arrests.

Miguel Angel Moratinos said his official trip marked a new stage in reopening talks with Cuba, and hoped it would help thaw Cuba's relations with the European Union.

"It's absolutely unthinkable that Spain, the Spanish government, cannot maintain, defend and develop an intense, constructive and communicative policy with the Cuban authorities," Moratinos told reporters in Havana.