WASHINGTON, April 10 (MENA) - US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro spoke by phone in advance of a historic meeting expected between the two leaders at the Summit of the Americas in Panama.

A White House official said Obama spoke to Castro before departing Washington, D.C., for his trip to Jamaica and Panama, according to The Hill Newspaper on Friday.

Obama announced in December he would move to normalize relations with Cuba after five decades after the US cut off formal ties.