U.S.,Cuba to resume talks on migration, direct mail: official

WASHINGTON, May 31 -- Cuba has agreed to resume talks with the United States over issues of migration and direct mail, a U.S. government official said on Sunday.

Cuba notified Washington on Saturday that it had agreed to resume the U.S.-proposed talks, said the official who asked not to be identified.

Cuba also expressed its willingness to cooperate with the United States on fighting terrorism, drug trafficking and hurricane disaster preparedness, the official said.

It has been noticed that Cuba made the notification just before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton left on a trip to El Salvador and Honduras.

Clinton is expected to attend a meeting Tuesday in Honduras where Cuba's possible readmission to the Organization of American States will be discussed. Cuba was expelled from the 34-member group in 1962.

Washington offered in mid-May to resume talks with Cuba about migration of Cuban nationals to the United States, a fresh sign of U.S. President Barack Obama's effort to engage with the island country.

The talks between the two countries were last held in 2003 and were unilaterally suspended by the Bush administration in 2004.