Cuba-US ties at 'turning point' says Barack Obama

US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro met briefly on Friday 

BBC World

US President Barack Obama has described the historic thaw in US-Cuba relations as a "turning point". 

Mr Obama was addressing 34 other regional leaders, including Cuba's President Raul Castro, at the Summit of the Americas in Panama.

The US president is due to meet Mr Castro on the sidelines of the summit.

It will be the first top-level negotiations between their countries in more than 50 years and their first formal meeting since the thaw began.

Addressing the same plenary in Panama City on the summit's second day, Mr Castro called for the decades-long economic blockade on Cuba to be lifted.

He also described Mr Obama as an "honest man" after a lengthy speech largely taken up with the history of US-Cuba relations.

"When I talk about the revolution, the passion oozes out of me," the Cuban leader said. "I have to ask President Obama for forgiveness. He is not responsible for the things which happened before his time."

Earlier, Mr Obama told fellow leaders: "This shift in US policy represents a turning point for our entire region.

"The fact that President Castro and I are both sitting here today marks a historic occasion," he said, while admitting there were still significant differences.