John Kerry Receives Minister Malmierca in Washington

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 18 (acn) John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State, met today in Washington with Rodrigo Malmierca, Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, and members of the delegation accompanying him, Prensa Latina reported.

The meeting took place at the headquarters of the State Department, during the last of the four working days of the Cuban delegation, made up by officials of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment, the Foreign Ministry, the Central Bank, the Chamber of Commerce and companies.
Malmierca and his delegation carry out in Washington a broad agenda, marked by his participation in events and meetings with officials and leaders of U.S. companies.
The meeting with Kerry took place a few hours after the announcement by the White House of the visit of President Barack Obama to Cuba on March 21 and 22.
In the past two days, the second regulatory talks between the two countries was held in the Department of Commerce, a mechanism created to advance in trade links, from Obama's executive measures to modify the blockade imposed on Cuba.
Meetings of the U.S.-Cuba Business Council at the Chamber of Commerce, and the Cuba Consortium, at he U.S. Institute of Peace were also held.
During the forums and meetings, the willingness of Havana and Washington to move towards normalization of relations and the interest of U.S. companies to do business with Cuba were ratified.
The Cuban minister insisted that the economic, commercial and financial blockade in force is the main obstacle to the links.
Malmierca acknowledged the package of measures announced by Obama over the last year to change the siege, but considered them limited in their impact on sanctions, since the prohibition to Cuba to use U.S. dollars in transactions and financial persecution, among other actions, continue.