Obama and Castro met a year ago at the Nelson Mandela funeral
US and Cuba are to start talks to normalise diplomatic ties in a historic shift in relations between the two countries, say US officials.
The US is also looking to open an embassy in Havana in the coming months.
The moves are part of a deal that saw the release of American Alan Gross by Cuba and includes the release of three Cubans jailed in Florida for spying.
US President Barack Obama will later hail the "most significant changes in US policy towards Cuba in 50 years".
Mr Gross, 65, has spent five years behind bars after being accused of subversion, for trying to bring internet services to communities in Cuba.
He earlier left Cuba on a US government plane and was freed on humanitarian grounds.
His arrest and imprisonment had undermined attempts to thaw diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The three Cubans released in the US are part of the so-called Cuban Five convicted of spying.
Prosecutors said the five had sought to infiltrate US military bases and spied on Cuban exiles in Florida.
Two were recently allowed to return to Cuba after finishing their sentences.
2001: Five Cubans, dubbed the Cuban Five, are convicted in Miami and given long sentences for spying for the Cuban government. Their case becomes a rallying cry for the Havana government
2008: Raul Castro officially takes over as Cuban president. Washington calls for free and fair elections, and says its trade embargo will remain
Dec 2009: US citizen Alan Gross detained in Cuba accused of spying for Washington
Oct 2011: One of the Cuban Five, Rene Gonzalez, is freed as scheduled from a Florida jail
Dec 2013: US President Barack Obama and Raul Castro shake hands at Nelson Mandela's funeral - the first such public gesture since the 1959 revolution
Feb 2014: The second of the Cuban Five, Fernando Gonzalez, is freed after completing his sentence
17 December 2014: Alan Gross is released by Cuba after five years in captivity
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30516740
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