Cuba and the U.S. are expected to sign agreements renewing long-suspended direct flights and mail services between the two countries, a Cuban official revealed Tuesday.
The latest signs of progress after a 50-year standoff between the former Cold War foes comes following the second U.S.-Cuba bilateral meeting, held in Washington, reported Reuters. The pair also discussed reaching agreements on environmental protections and fighting drug trafficking during the meeting, deputy director for U.S. affairs at Cuba Foreign Ministry Gustavo Machin told reporters.
Cuba's head of North American affairs Josefina Vidal went into greater detail, telling reporters that agreements on flights, environmental protection, direct postal service and the fight against drug trafficking are expected to be reached by the end of the year.
"We are very close to the first agreements that we can announce in the next few weeks," she said, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. "I am almost certain that by the end of the year we can announce some results in those areas."
Machin chimed in saying that a deal on direct flights could be struck in the "short term."
"I think this is one of the issues that we have advanced on most and on which we are close to reaching an agreement," Machin said. "We are talking of one month, two months, three months."
Both cautioned however, that airlines would be required to make their own deals with the individual government before flights could actually begin.
One other topic of note was the discussion about compensation and property claims. Several U.S. companies want compensation for property that was nationalized after the Cuban Revolution, while Cuba wants to recover Guantanamo Bay, which the U.S. Navy has been using since the 1898 Spanish-American war, according to AFP.
The next U.S.-Cuba meeting is set to be held in Havana in early 2016, a brief statement read.
