Cuba and US to announce embassy openings

Cuba and the US plan to officially seal the renewal of diplomatic ties begun last year, announcing the reopening of embassies in Washington and Havana for the first time in more than 50 years.

US President Barack Obama will announce Wednesday that the US and Cuba have finalised an agreement to reopen embassies in each other's capitals, a major step in ending hostilities between the Cold War foes, a senior US government official said.

The White House said Obama will deliver a statement on Cuba from the Rose Garden on Wednesday morning. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is in Vienna for nuclear negotiations with Iran, is also expected to speak about the embassy openings. Kerry has said previously that he would travel to Cuba for an embassy opening.

The re-establishing of embassies is a final step in the full diplomatic thaw Obama initiated last December. Since then, the United States has loosened some travel restrictions to Cuba and allowed for some new economic ties. The countries have also struck a deal on the release of prisoners.

In April, Obama met with Raul Castro during a summit meeting in Panama, the first time the leaders of Cuba and the United States had met in more than 50 years.

The United States officially removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terror earlier in June, eliminating a remaining stumbling block in the diplomatic renewal.

In Havana, the American embassy will likely occupy the same building where the Interests Section currently operates, White House aides have said. That's the same structure, situated on the Havana waterfront, which housed the American embassy prior to the severing of diplomatic ties after the Cuban Revolution in 1959.