When US State Department officials and representatives of the Cuban government meet in Havana this week, it will be the first time in 35 years that a senior-level official has led a US delegation to the island nation.

Roberta Jacobson, the assistant secretary of state in charge of the western hemisphere, who has previously served as the State Department’s coordinator for Cuban affairs, will be leading the US delegation. The meetings she will lead, which begin on Wednesday, will be the first steps toward normalising diplomatic relations between the two countries.



A senior State Department official said on Monday that the US was “looking forward to the Cubans lifting travel restrictions and caps on personnel”, and that the next step, the upgrading of the US mission to full embassy status, could happen “quickly” following this week’s talks.



Jacobson also hopes to meet representatives of Cuban civil society, the official confirmed, adding that engagement with the Cuban government on issues of human rights and democracy would “remain central”.



Also on the table at the talks, the official said, would be the issues of “unimpeded shipments [to the US diplomatic mission], access to the US mission by the Cuban people, the accreditation of our diplomats, and removing the geographical restrictions on [the Cuban] people”.



The official said, however, that there was no specific expectation that all the issues would be closed this week, saying it was “hard to know exactly what will come out of this first conversation”.