HAVANA —The presidents of Cuba, Raul Castro, and United States, Barack Obama, spoke today about the state of relations, progress made since they agreed to restore ties and the next steps that could be taken to improve these links.

’The Cuban president stressed the need to resolve key problems to move towards normalization of relations, particularly the lifting of the blockade and the return of the territory illegally occupied by the Guantanamo Naval Base,’ says an official note released here.
The text notes that Raul Castro reiterated Obama that despite the differences, the Cuban government is willing to continue working in this endeavor.
The meeting between the two presidents was held at Havana’s Palace of the Revolution.
The note specified the US delegation was formed by Secretaries of State, John Kerry; Agriculture, Vilsack Thoma; and Commerce, Penny Pritzker, as well as national security adviser, Susan Rice; and deputy advisor of that portfolio, Benjamin Rhodes.
Josh Earnest, assistant to the president and press secretary; Jeffrey DeLaurentis, Business Manager a.I US in Cuba; Mark Feierstein, director for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the National Security Council, and Siobhan Sheils, director of Central America and Caribbean in the National Security Council also attended the talks.
The note states that the Cuban side was represented by Esteban Lazo Hernandez, president of the National Assembly of People’s Power; Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez; first vice president of Cuba; Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodriguez; Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, and Agriculture, Gustavo Rodriguez.
Moreover, it continues, Alejandro Castro, Advisor to the Committee on Defense and National Security; Josefina Vidal Ferreiro and Gustavo Machin Gomez, director general and deputy director general in the direction of the United States within the Foreign Ministry, respectively, and Jose Ramon Cabañas Rodriguez, ambassador to the United States.—PRENSA LATINA