Raúl Castro, president from Cuba, and their homologous of United States, Barack Obama, in the VII Summit of the America, in Panama

The White House announced on Friday it expects a meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro, at the Summit of the Americas.

This was confirmed by U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, who said that the meeting will be held on Saturday, the CubaSí Web site reported on April 10.

“We certainly anticipate that they will have the opportunity to meet at the summit tomorrow to have a discussion,” Rhodes said.

This meeting has a historic nature, since no incumbent president has had a formal meeting with a Cuban head of state since President Dwight Eisenhower sat to speak with Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista in 1958.

Fidel Castro and Bill Clinton saw each other briefly at the United Nations in 2000, but they just shook hands. And at the funeral of South African leader Nelson Mandela in 2013 Obama and Castro also said hello to each other.

In addition, the State Department sent its recommendations to the White House on the withdrawal of Cuba from its list of states sponsoring terrorism, a key step in the reestablishment of diplomatic relations.