US-Cuba relations: President Obama removes Caribbean nation from 'terror sponsor' list

The next step is likely to be an agreement to restore full diplomatic ties and re-open respective embassies in Havana and in Washington

The United States has agreed to excise Cuba from its list of nations sponsoring terrorism, removing a key obstacle to efforts to normalise relations with its near-neighbour.

The decision comes days after President Barack Obama and President Raul Castro held talks on the fringes of the Summit of the Americas in Panama, the first such encounter between leaders of the two countries in more than half a century. It was also the first time Cuba had been invited to join the summit.

Mr Obama had ordered a review of Cuba’s presence on the list last December after he and Mr Castro took the world by surprise saying they had agreed to seek ways to end more than five decades of mutual enmity. There had been some expectation that he would announce its removal from it while in Panama.

The next step is likely to be an agreement to restore full diplomatic ties and re-open respective embassies in Havana and in Washington. It may be much longer, however, before the US lifts the entire economic embargo, a step that would require the approval of a still reluctant US Congress.

Mr Obama approved the change in status upon a recommendation from the US Secretary of State, John Kerry. “After a careful review of Cuba's record, which was informed by the intelligence community, as well as assurances provided by the Cuban government, the Secretary of State concluded that Cuba met the conditions for rescinding its designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism,” the White House said.