MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cuba/US step closer agree to resume migration talks

Cuba has agreed to resume talks with the United States over migration and mail service between the two countries, two senior US State Department officials said on Sunday.

Currently, mail service between the United States and Cuba goes through third-party countries.

Cuban officials who met with State Department officials Saturday raised the prospect of future talks regarding counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, and disaster preparedness and response.

According to sources the Cuban government informed the United States on Saturday that it had accepted a recent US overture to restart the negotiations. No date or time has been set for the talks.

The move came as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left for a trip to El Salvador and Honduras.

The US made the overture on May 22 to resume the talks. State Department spokesperson Heide Bronke-Fulton said that “we intend to use the renewal of talks to reaffirm both sides' commitment to safe, legal, and orderly migration, to review recent trends in illegal Cuban migration to the United States and to improve operational relations with Cuba on migration issues.”

The Bush administration suspended the immigration talks with the Cuban government in January 2004. A resumption of talks would follow President Obama's easing of family travel and financial restrictions between the U.S. and the island.