Third meeting of U.S.-Cuba commission to be held in Havana

The United States and Cuba plan the third meeting of a bilateral commission set up to discuss issues of mutual concern on Monday in Havana.

The U.S.-Cuba Bilateral Commission was established last August following a meeting by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez and Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in Cuba for the official reopening of the U.S. Embassy. It serves as a steering committee for the rapprochement process and holds regularly scheduled meetings.

The Cuban delegation will be headed by Josefina Vidal, who directs the U.S. Office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kristie Kenney, counselor to the secretary of state, will lead the U.S. side.

During the session, the Cuban delegation will once again bring up its key concerns — lifting the embargo and return of the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay as essential to normalizing U.S.-Cuba relations — but it also will raise the need to eliminate other U.S. policies it calls “harmful to Cuba’s sovereignty.”

The United States said progress made during President Barack Obama’s trip to Cuba in March would be reviewed.

“The United States and Cuba expect to plan continued engagements on environmental protection, agriculture, law enforcement, health, migration, civil aviation, direct mail, maritime and port security, educational and cultural exchanges, telecommunications, trafficking in persons, regulatory issues, human rights and claims for the remainder of 2016,” the State Department said in a statement.

During a news conference in Havana Thursday, Gustavo Machín, deputy director of the U.S. office, said much more could be done to advance the commercial and economic relationship between the two countries if the embargo were lifted.

More progress, he said, has been made in cooperation on anti-drug trafficking, migratory fraud and environmental cooperation, and the United States and Cuba have signed nine agreements over the past 17 months.

Also on the agenda of the Monday meeting are a review of the agreements reached during the last commission meeting in November, and further actions that may be undertaken this year to “ advance the process to improve” relations, Cuba’s Foreign Ministry said. That might include more technical meetings, cooperation agreements, high-level visits and further dialogues on topics of mutual interest.

Cuba and the United States began the process of rapprochement on Dec. 17, 2014, when both President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro announced the two countries were beginning the process of normalizing relations after more than five decades of hostilities.

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 2:47 PM with the headline "Third meeting of U.S.-Cuba commission to be held in Havana."