US-Cuba talks end with no embassy deal

Representatives from the two countries met at the State Department on Thursday and Friday.
 
Roberta Jacobson, the US assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, on Friday called the talks “highly productive.”
 
"This has not been an easy task given our complicated history," she told reporters. "We will persist, inspired by the conviction that engagement and not isolation are the keys to moving forward."
 
"I think that we made a great deal of progress this time and I don't know that we will need another round," Jacobson added.
 
The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 and placed an official embargo against the country in 1962.
 
In December, President Barack Obama announced a historic diplomatic breakthrough with the Cuban government.
 
Obama said that the US would start talks with Cuba to normalize diplomatic relations, marking the most significant shift in American foreign policy towards the communist country in over 50 years.
 
The US president also met with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro in Panama last month.
 
The United States is removing Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.