President Barack Obama is set for a key meeting with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro in Panama.
Delegations of 35 nations from North, Central and South America are gathering in Panama for what is being billed as a “historic” Summit of the Americas.
Barack Obama and Raul Castro will meet for the first time since a recent thaw in US-Cuba relations.
The two shook hands once before, at Nelson Mandela’s funeral in 2013.
On April 10, Barack Obama and Raul Castro spoke on the phone after arriving in Panama City, according to a Facebook post by Jorge Leganoa, the deputy director of Cuba’s state-run National Information Agency.
He provided no additional details but White House officials confirmed to news agencies the call had taken place.
The White House has been playing coy, saying that while there are no plans for any formal one-to-one meetings between the two presidents, there may well be an opportunity to “meet on the margins”.
Meanwhile, the State Department has recommended Cuba be removed from the US list of countries which sponsor terrorism.
