Washington - US and Cuban diplomats were to meet on Monday for the second round of talks on improving relations between the two countries since President Barack Obama took office. Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon was to hold talks with the top Cuban representative in Washington, Jorge Alberto Bolanos, just two weeks after Obama announced an easing of sanctions on the communist island.

Obama has sought to reach out to Cuba, hoping that relaxing the decades-long embargo would encourage the Havana government to introduce democratic reforms and more political and personal freedom.

"There are a host of steps that the Cuban government would take and we'd like to see," State Department acting spokesman Robert Wood said.

"We have concerns about Cuban policies," Wood said. "We'll be raising them. You know, I'm sure that there will be a discussion of the president's steps that he announced recently."

Obama ended restrictions that limited the frequency of trips Cuban-Americans can make to Cuba and how much money they could send to their families back home.

Obama's move was widely welcomed days later at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, but most Latin American countries want the White House to lift the entire embargo enacted in the 1960s.

Although the two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations, they have interest sections in their respective capitals and occasionally hold meetings.(dpa)