U.S. and Cuban diplomats were talking behind closed doors Monday in a last-minute round of negotiations aimed at restoring full diplomatic relations before a key regional summit in less than a month.

A small team of negotiators led by Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta S. Jacobson met with Josefina Vidal, Cuba’s top diplomat for U.S. affairs. The open-ended talks were announced less than 48 hours before Jacobson flew to Havana on Sunday.

The U.S. and Cuba held their first round of talks in Havana in January, a little more than a month after presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced that they would reopen embassies in each other’s countries and try to move toward a broader normalization.

(AP)