The United States and Cuba will hold the fourth Bilateral Commission in Washington, D.C., on Friday, September 30. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Mari Carmen Aponte and Chief of Staff and Director of Policy Planning Jon Finer will co-chair the U.S. delegation. Chargé d’Affaires Jeffrey DeLaurentis and Deputy Assistant Secretary John Creamer will also attend for the United States. The Cuban delegation will be led by Josefina Vidal, the Foreign Ministry’s Director General for U.S. Affairs.

The Secretary places a top priority on deepening our dialogue with the Government of Cuba, the primary mechanism for which is the Bilateral Commission. The meeting will provide an opportunity to review progress on a number of shared priorities since the last Bilateral Commission meeting in May 2016, including public health, counternarcotics, and the resumption of scheduled commercial flights between the United States and Cuba. The United States and Cuba expect to plan continued engagements on economic issues, human rights, claims, environmental protection, agriculture, law enforcement, health, migration, educational and cultural exchanges, trafficking in persons, and regulatory issues for the remainder of 2016.

For further information, please contact WHA Press at WHAPress@state.gov.