President Barack Obama has hailed a "new day" between the US and Cuba following talks with Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana.
The two leaders discussed economic and democratic reforms on the second day of the US leader's historic visit to Cuba.
Both vowed to continue moving forward with normalising relations but reiterated that obstacles remain between the two former Cold War foes.
Mr Obama is under pressure in the US to urge the communist government in Cuba to allow dissent from political opponents and to further open its Soviet-style command economy.
Aides have said he will encourage economic reforms and call for greater access to the internet for Cubans.
He is also expected to announce that Google has won a deal to start providing more Wi-Fi and broadband access on the island, ABC News reported.
In a letter to the Cuban dissident group the Ladies in White on 10 March, Mr Obama said: "I will raise these issues directly with President Castro."
Mr Castro has said Cuba will not waver from its 57-year-old revolution and government officials have said the US needs to end its economic embargo and return the Guantanamo Bay naval base before normal relations can be restored.
Mr Obama has urged Congress to end the 54-year-old embargo, but has been rejected by the Republican leadership.
Instead he has used his executive authority to loosen restrictions on trade and travel with the Caribbean island.
On Sunday, Cuban Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca said: "We think the US government can take more steps to send clear and direct signals in this direction."
The two leaders met during a regional summit in Panama in April last year, as well as at Nelson Mandela's funeral in 2013 and the UN General Assembly in September.
Earlier on Monday, Mr Obama laid a wreath at a memorial to Cuban independence hero Jose Marti in Havana's Revolutionary Square.
Mr Obama will attend a state dinner on Monday night.
Since taking power in 2008, Raul Castro has implemented economic and social reforms which have allowed hundreds of Cubans to pursue free enterprise, and restrictions on mobile phones and the internet have been eased.
Mr Obama and Mr Castro announced they would re-open diplomatic relations in December 2014, ending an estrangement that began when the Cuban revolution ousted a pro-American government in 1959.
Mr Obama became the first US President in 88 years to visit Cuba after Air Force One touched down in Havana on Sunday.
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