U.S. science group seeks cooperation with Cuba

By Jeff Franks

HAVANA (Reuters) - A group led by the head of the United States' biggest science organization is in Cuba this week to discuss ways to rekindle scientific cooperation as U.S.-Cuba relations slowly improve under U.S. President Barack Obama.

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Peter Agre, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), told Reuters on Wednesday the group had met with government officials and Cuban scientists, all of them enthusiastic about doing science together.

"Nothing concrete so far, but much good will," he said on the second day of a visit that ends on Friday.

The Cubans "are nothing other than warm-hearted about this. They would love to see things move forward," said Agre, who won a Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2003.

He said U.S. and Cuban scientists had a long history of working together that continued even after relations between their governments soured following the 1959 revolution that put Fidel Castro in power.

But the last five decades of hostilities, and particularly the years under Obama predecessor George W. Bush, have made joint efforts difficult. The AAAS hopes this will change under Obama.

"Cuba has been kind of a dead zone (for cooperation) because of the separation, but the opportunity to be here is something I'm looking forward to," Agre said. "It's something we would both benefit from."

The AAAS last sent a delegation to Cuba 12 years ago, he said.