US, Cuba foreign ministers to meet on Monday as ties restored

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet his Cuban counterpart here on Monday -- the day on which the two countries would raise their national flags in Havana and Washington to mark the historic reopening of their diplomatic ties after a five-decade freeze.

"At the State Department at 1 o'clock (on Monday), Secretary Kerry will meet with his Cuban counterpart, their foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, right here at the State Department," State Department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

On Monday, the US would fly its national flag at its embassy in Havana and the same would be done by the Cuban Government in Washington DC.

At 10:30 AM, the Cuban Embassy will hold their ceremonial re-opening in presence of a US delegation in Washington.

Kerry would discuss bilateral issues in meeting with his Cuban counterpart, a senior State Department official said.

"What we're looking at are issues that we've already agreed that we have an agenda that we can talk about. And so on human rights, we won't get into specifics, but we've had a dialogue with them already and we've had a pretty robust conversation with them, and we expect that to be continued through the discussion by the ministers," the official said.

Diplomatic ties between the two countries were snapped in 1961, soon after Fidel Castro came to power in Havana.