president barack  obama and cuban president raul castro shook hands last night ahead of a historic meeting which may see cuba declassified as a state sponsor of terrorism the two leaders, who clasped hands yesterday at a brief meeting, are both attending the summit of the americas in panama the gesture of friendships is an outward symbol of obama's project to thaw diplomatic relations with cuba, which have been frozen since the 1960s the white house has set expectations for a 'substantive' exchange between castro, brother of revolutionary leader fidel, and obama today speculation is high that a result of the exchange could be the official removal of cuba from the state department's list of state terror sponsors that removal would also lift some economic sanctions on cuba scroll down for video  warmth: president barack obama and cuban president raul castro shook hands on friday at a summit in panama, a symbolically charged gesture as the pair seek to restore ties between the cold war foes  until next time: the white house said the two men will have a more robust exchange on saturday  obama and castro have met once before   at the 2013 funeral of nelson mandela in south africa   but today could mark their first robust, in person meeting the president's eventual aim is to restore full diplomatic relations  and boost trade and travel between the two countries their rapprochement, first unveiled in a historic policy  shift in december, is the central issue at the summit of the  americas meeting in panama obama said: 'as we move towards the process of normalization, we'll have  our differences, government to government, with cuba on many  issues just as we differ at times with other nations within the  americas, just as we differ with our closest allies' but the 53 year old obama, who was not even born when fidel  and raul castro swept to power in cuba's 1959 revolution, also  said the united states is no longer interested in trying to  impose its will on latin america 'the days in which our agenda in this hemisphere so often  presumed that the united states could meddle with impunity,  those days are past,' he said apart from a couple of brief, informal encounters, the  leaders of the united states and cuba have not had any  significant meetings since the castro brothers toppled  us backed dictator fulgencio batista and then steered their  caribbean country into a close alliance with the soviet union last time: obama and castro are pictured above shaking hands at the funeral of nelson mandela, held in johannesburg, south africa, in december 2013  out of the deep freeze: obama and castro are expected to meet again on saturday and talk about their efforts to restore full diplomatic relations and boost trade and travel between the two countries  gang's all here: president barack obama (far right middle row) and cuba's president raul castro (far left middle row) attend the summit of the americas opening ceremony  colombian president juan manuel santos hailed obama's push  to improve relations with cuba, saying it was helping to heal a 'blister' that was hurting the region however, cuban dissident guillermo farinas said civic groups  in cuba have been sidelined from talks and appealed to obama to  support their push for more democracy 'the cuban government is showing no goodwill  they don't  want to make any kind of concessions,' he said obama, who met with activists from across latin america,  including two cuban dissidents, appears to be close to removing  communist run cuba from a us list of countries that it says  sponsor terrorism its inclusion on the list brings a series of automatic us sanctions and cuba is insisting it be taken off as a condition  of restoring diplomatic ties washington imposed trade sanctions on cuba from 1960 and  broke off diplomatic relations in 1961, but the  ensuing freeze did it no favors, said ben rhodes, obama's deputy  national security adviser 'our cuba policy, instead of isolating cuba, was isolating  the united states in our own backyard,' he noted the two countries have maintained contact through interests  sections in havana and washington since 1977, and in recent  years they have increasingly cooperated on issues such as  migration and drug trafficking the state department has now recommended that cuba be taken  off the terrorism list, a us senate foreign relations  committee aide said obama is expected to agree, although it is  not clear whether he will announce it during the summit historic: president barack obama (right) waving among raul castro other presidents before the opening ceremony of the vii americas summit  obama has already used his executive authority to ease some  trade and travel restrictions, and is seeking to encourage  nascent small businesses in cuba by allowing more exports there but only congress, controlled by republicans, can remove the  overall us economic embargo on the island the rapprochement  by obama has met some resistance in washington and  among some influential cuban americans critics say cuba should not be rewarded unless it changes  its one party political system while obama's policy has been widely praised around latin  america, this was tempered last month when his administration  imposed sanctions on venezuela, cuba's closest ally and main  benefactor that controversy now hangs over the summit this weekend venezuelan president nicolas maduro plans to present obama  with a petition signed by millions of people demanding that the  sanctions be reversed he is certain to receive support from  castro and other left wing leaders in latin america 'it is no time for imperialism, threats, it is time for  peace, co operation, union, progress, prosperity,' maduro said on  arrival in panama
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