Cuba and the United States will exchange ambassadors once the island is removed from the US blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism late this month, President Raul Castro said Tuesday.

Castro said conversations on the countries' historic move to renew diplomatic ties were "going well," and that the process would advance after the expiration of a 45-day period -- on May 29 -- for the US Congress to oppose President Barack Obama's plan to remove Cuba from the blacklist.