Countries renew talks on restoring diplomatic ties

onnaedo

March 16, 2015 4:46 PM

The countries will seek more progress steps toward an agreement while not allowing differences over Venezuela to impede their reconciliation.

The United States and Cuba are set to meet for talks on restoring diplomatic ties between both countries.

Reuters reports that the countries will seek more progress steps toward an agreement while not allowing differences over Venezuela to impede their reconciliation.

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State, Roberta Jacobson is due to meet with the Cuban foreign ministry's chief of U.S. affairs Josefina Vidal, in Havana, with talks possibly continuing into Wednesday.

Back in January, Jacobson and Vidal had led their respective delegations with great fanfare in Havana and in Washington in February, but this session will take place with smaller teams and, possibly, a media blackout.

The United States severed diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1961, and relations remained hostile even after the end of the Cold War.

But US President Barack Obama reversed the U.S. policy of isolating Cuba and entered 18 months of secret talks which led to a joint announcement with Cuban President Raul Castro on December 17th that the 2 adversaries would seek to restore diplomatic ties and a release of prisoners by both sides.

Before agreeing to restore ties, however, Cuba wants to be removed from the U.S State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism and also to find a bank willing to handle transactions for its diplomatic posts in the United States while the US wants to increase staff at its mission in Havana and have unrestricted travel for its diplomats on the island.

Meanwhile Obama has said that he hopes the United States would open an embassy in Cuba before a Western Hemisphere summit in Panama set for April 10-11.

The event could potentially mark a first face-to-face meeting between Obama and Castro since shaking hands at Nelson Mandela's funeral in December 2013.

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