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• 01 / 27 / 2010

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Cuban and U.S. negotiators will meet in February for a second round of talks on migration issues since the discussions were renewed last summer, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Wednesday.

He said no date was set for the meeting, which had been scheduled for December in Havana but was postponed for undisclosed reasons.

The United States has said since December that the talks would be reset for February, but Cuba remained silent about it until now.

Officials from the two countries met in New York in July, reviving talks last held in 2003 before they were cancelled under President George W. Bush.

The U.S. State Department described the renewal of negotiations then as part of U.S.President Barack Obama's desire to pursue a more constructive relationship with Cuba, after five decades of hostility.

The discussions cover agreements from the mid-1990s aimed at preventing an exodus of Cuban refugees to the United States such as the 1980 Mariel boatlift and a 1994 wave of boat people.

The United States agreed to repatriate Cuban migrants intercepted at sea, while Cuba said it would clamp down on illegal immigration.

The United States has pushed for access to a deepwater port so it can safely return migrants and to ensure that U.S. diplomats can track the welfare of those sent back.

Cuba wants Washington to abandon its immigration policy that gives preferential treatment to Cubans who reach U.S. shores. It says the so-called "wet foot, dry foot" policy encourages Cubans to abandon their homeland for the United States.

Source: Reuters