Panama City: The historic meeting between US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro lasted "about an hour" Saturday, and they discussed efforts to reopen embassies, a senior US official said.
"There wasn`t tension" during the private discussion in a room on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Panama City, the administration official said on condition of anonymity.
They directed their respective teams of negotiators to resolve lingering issues as quickly as possible in order to open the embassies, which shuttered after ties broke off in 1961.
Addressing another thorny issue, Obama told Castro that he would decide whether to recommend removing Cuba from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism in the "coming days."
While Cuba has made the delisting a key part of the negotiations, the official said it was not a significant part of their discussions.
They talked about "practical" issues stopping the opening of embassies, and Obama underscored the importance of allowing US diplomats to move about freely in Cuba.
"We`ve made good progress," the official said. "Our expectation is this could be concluded relatively quickly."
Castro mentioned his desire to see the US embargo lifted. Obama has urged the US Congress to end it.
"A lot of the meeting was spent on just taking stock of how significant this moment is" for Cubans, Americans and the hemisphere, the official said.
