US and Cuba meet for high-level talks as part of thaw
Landmark US-Cuba talks end in 'positive' atmosphere
(about 19 hours later)
The US and Cuba are holding their highest-level talks in decades in the Cuban capital, Havana.
Two days of historic talks between the United States and Cuba have ended with both sides agreeing to meet again.
The two days of talks are part of a thaw in relations between the two rivals announced last month by US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro.
The discussions had focused on restoring diplomatic relations but no date was set for the reopening of embassies.
A US official described the first day as "productive and collaborative"
A US official said normalising relations after decades of hostilities would take time.
The talks, which are focusing on migration and restoring full diplomatic ties, resume on Thursday.
The Cuban delegation chief said lifting the economic blockade against Cuba was essential.
The US delegation is led by Roberta Jacobson, assistant secretary of state and the top US diplomat for Latin America. The last time someone of her level of seniority visited Cuba was 35 years ago.
Josefina Vidal said no date had been set for the next round of discussions.
Her deputy, Alex Lee, said: "The productive and collaborative nature of today's discussion proves that despite the clear differences that remain between our countries, the United States and Cuba can find opportunities to advance our mutually shared interests."
These were the highest-level talks in decades between the US and Cuba.
Cuban foreign ministry official Josefina Vidal criticised US migration policies but said Cuba aspired to have a normal relationship with the United States "in the broader sense but also in the area of migration".
The talks followed December's agreement by US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, to improve ties.
'New era'
The head of the US delegation, Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Roberta Jacobson said: "We have to overcome more than 50 years of a relationship that was not based on confidence or trust."
The talks came only hours after Mr Obama urged Congress to seize the chance to end the US trade embargo against Cuba.
Ms Vidal, her Cuban counterpart, said: "It was a first meeting. This is a process."
BBC correspondent Barbara Plett Usher says the meetings feel like the beginning of a new era in relations between the two nations.
She said she expected a new meeting to be scheduled in the coming weeks ahead of April's Summit of the Americas, which President Obama and President Castro are expected to attend.
The US will be asking for an end to current restrictions on its diplomats so it can upgrade its interest section in Havana to a full embassy, she adds.
Analysis: Will Grant, BBC News, Havana
Analysis: Will Grant, BBC News, Havana
Both sides say the current talks are being conducted in a spirit of co-operation but while there is cautious optimism at this stage, officials are keen to manage expectations.
It was a businesslike response after the talks from Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson. She employed much less of the optimistic rhetoric about the thaw that the Democratic Party's Congressmen and Senators used when they visited the island earlier this week. Instead the woman leading this historic delegation was more measured and reserved with her comments.
The first day of talks on Wednesday focused on the relatively straightforward issue of migration - a topic on which the two countries have a long history of cooperation, despite their political differences.
Nevertheless, she defined the conversations as "positive and productive" and said "real and concrete steps" towards re-establishing the long frozen diplomatic ties had been discussed. For example, both sides had apparently agreed that their future relations should be guided by the norms of the Vienna Convention.
When it comes to certain US migration policies towards Cuba, Havana says it has made its disagreements clear - in particular the so-called 'wet foot, dry foot' policy which gives Cubans preferential treatment in obtaining US citizenship.
But there are still many wrinkles to be ironed out. Josefina Vidal, who led the Cuban delegation at the table, set out one of them from the Cuban government's perspective: "We expressed that the it would be difficult to explain that diplomatic relations have been resumed while Cuba is still unjustly listed as a state sponsor of international terrorism."
The Cuban government argues that the policy encourages illegal immigration of its people to the US, often using risky rafts to cross the Florida Straits.
There is much to be discussed in future negotiations before embassies can be reopened in their respective capitals or ambassadors named. But if nothing else these talks have shown the political will is there to achieve those goals.
But the more complex talks are scheduled for Thursday.
The first day of talks focused on migration.
President Obama has urged Congress to fully lift the economic embargo on the island, something welcomed by Cuba. But there are questions about the speed and direction of change, as well as Washington's long-standing demands for greater freedoms and democracy on the communist island.
Ms Jacobson's deputy, Alex Lee, said: "The productive and collaborative nature of today's discussion proves that despite the clear differences that remain between our countries, the United States and Cuba can find opportunities to advance our mutually shared interests."
The movement toward re-establishing diplomatic ties has begun, but full normalisation is still a long way off.
However, Ms Vidal criticised US migration policies but said Cuba aspired to have a normal relationship with the United States "in the broader sense but also in the area of migration".
On Tuesday, President Obama stressed the importance of the thaw in US-Cuban relations in his State of the Union address to Congress.
On Tuesday, in a speech ahead of the opening of the talks, Mr Obama urged Congress to seize the chance to end the US trade embargo against Cuba.
He said his decision to engage with Cuba after decades of frozen relations had the potential to "end a legacy of mistrust in our hemisphere".
He also urged Congress to begin work on ending the US trade embargo against Cuba, which has been in force for more than five decades.
"In Cuba, we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date. When what you're doing doesn't work for 50 years, it's time to try something new," he said.
The president said the shift in his administration's Cuba policy removed "a phony excuse for restrictions in Cuba; stands up for democratic values; and extends the hand of friendship to the Cuban people".
However, President Obama does not have the power to lift the embargo, only Congress can do that and correspondents say many Republicans are still deeply opposed to this.
