[1] Early Cuban-Vanuatu relations must be considered within the scope of Vanuatu's resolutely independent foreign policy.

Rejecting alignment with the Western bloc during the late stages of the Cold War, Vanuatu joined the Non-Aligned Movement in 1983, and established diplomatic relations both with the Soviet Union and (a few months later) with the United States in 1986.

[1] In 1984, a Cuban diplomatic delegation visited Vanuatu, and E. Huffer suggests that this visit was instrumental in prompting the Asian Development Bank and ESCAP to open offices in Port-Vila shortly thereafter, "partly in an attempt to favour the integration of Vanuatu into the Western capitalist camp".

[2] More recently, in the 2000s, quasi-dormant relations between the two countries have been revived, in the context of Cuba's regional engagement in the Pacific.

[4] A representative of Vanuatu attended a multilateral Cuba-Pacific ministerial meeting in Havana in September 2008, where attendees discussed "strengthening co-operation in health, sports and education", and where Cuban authorities pledged to assist Pacific countries in coping with the effects of climate change.