President Barack Obama on Monday said his administration's overture to Cuba will usher in reforms on the island, and he hopes to open a U.S. Embassy in Havana by mid-April, Reuters reported.

The president said, however, the opening of a full-scale diplomatic post does not mean – after a half-century marked by a U.S. embargo – ties between Washington, D.C., and Havana would be completely normalized.

"Keep in mind that our expectation has never been that we would achieve full normal relations immediately," Obama said. "There's a lot of work that still has to be done."

Nevertheless, Obama said he hopes the Interests Section, which currently represents the U.S. government in Cuba, could be upgraded to full Embassy status before the April 10-11 Summit of the Americas, which will reunite the leaders of the Western Hemisphere in Panama City.

"My hope is that we will be able to open an embassy," he said, "and that some of the initial groundwork will have been laid."

Last week, representatives from Cuba's foreign ministry made their way to the U.S. State Department for a second round of talks with their U.S. counterparts. The meeting's goal was to pave the way for the openings of embassies in Havana and Washington, D.C., according to the Miami Herald.

Beyond the brick-and-mortar issues of the diplomatic missions, Obama said his decision to open relations with Cuba was not a gift to the authoritarian Cuban government, as critics have charged. Rather, the president insisted, the move is already prompting Havana to liberalize.

Ultimately, restarting relations with the United States will force the Cuban government to open up the island nation's isolated economy, which in turn will "prompt more change," Obama argued.

"And we're already seeing it," he said. "The Cuban government has begun to discuss ways in which they are going to reorganize their economy to accommodate for possible foreign investment, that's already forcing a series of changes that promises to open up more opportunities for entrepreneurs, more transparency in terms of what's happening in their economy."

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