The meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Panama comes as Castro and Obama have embarked on a process to normalize relations between their estranged nations.
In December, Obama and President Castro announced a significant change in policy and the relationship between the two governments.
The United States anticipates easing some long-standing restrictions on the Cuban economy, and in recent days, administration officials have said that the State Department and other American agencies are nearing a decision on removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The talks between Cuba and the United States appear to have mostly bracketed the ideological differences that have poisoned relations between the two countries. Obama and Castro said that they would move forward in a spirit of constructive disagreement.
Castro said. “When I say that I agree with everything that the president has just said, I include that we have agreed to disagree. No one should entertain illusions. It is true that we have many differences. Our countries have a long and complicated history, but we are willing to make progress in the way the president has described.”
“I think what we have both concluded is that we can disagree with the spirit of respect and civility,” Obama said, adding that the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington are key priorities in the short term.
The last meeting between the leader of Cuba and the United States occurred in 1956, when Dwight Eisenhower met Fulgencio Batista, the dictatorial leader who fell from power during the Cuban Revolution.
Castro told Obama he wants the U.S. embargo on the island lifted. The two also discussed fugitives both in Cuba and the United States. If the United States opens an embassy in Havana, Obama stressed the need for its diplomats to be able to move freely around the country.
But after 50 years of warily eyeing one another across a 90-mile waterway, there was also a sense at the meeting that the relationship between Cuba and the United States is not about to reborn overnight. “We are willing to discuss everything, but we need to be patient — very patient,” Castro said. “Some things we will agree on; others we will disagree. The pace of life at the present moment in the world, it’s very fast. We might disagree on something today on which we could agree tomorrow.”