Brussels, February 28 (RHC) -- Cuba and the European Union will hold a third round of talks in Havana next week aimed at increasing trade, investment and political dialogue, an EU official told Reuters on Friday.

The upcoming round of talks on Wednesday and Thursday follows normalization talks this week between Cuba and the United States. The meetings were due to take place in January, but were postponed.

The EU is already Cuba's top foreign investor. EU officials say the proposed accord would give Brussels a bigger role in Havana's market-oriented reforms and better position EU companies.

The EU and Cuba began the negotiations in April last year to improve relations, part of a significant deepening of ties since the bloc lifted diplomatic sanctions in 2008.