Discussions between the United States and Cuba turned to communications issues this week as a delegation led by Daniel Sepulveda, the U.S. State Department's coordinator for international communications, visited the Communist island, Voice of America reported.

Washington and Havana are trying to re-establish full diplomatic relations after a December announcement by Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro to seek a rapprochement more than 50 years after the rupture of ties between their nations.

The State Department-led delegation also included representatives from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Federal Communications Commission, Cuba's official newspaper Grandma noted; beyond discussions with their Cuban counterparts, the U.S. negotiators visited the island's state-owned telephone company ETECSA and the University of Information Science.

The Treasury Department, in charge of enforcing the U.S. embargo against Cuba, said on Tuesday that dozens of Cuban companies and individuals had been removed from a list of "specially designated nationals" banned from doing business in the United States.

ETECSA, meanwhile, has already signed a deal with New Jersey-based IDT to restore direct telephone connections between the United States and Cuba, Voice of America noted.

Until now, phone calls between the neighboring nations had to pass through a third country, making them very expensive, the BBC noted. The ETECSA-IDT agreement was the first such deal signed since the joint announcement in December.

"The re-establishment of direct communications between the United States and Cuba contributes to providing better infrastructure and better communications quality between the people and our two countries," the Cuban company noted in a statement.

During Sepulveda's meeting with Cuban Deputy Communications Minister José Luis Perdomo, the Cuban side offered the U.S. delegation details about the country's computer systems and cybersecurity policy, Voice of America said.

U.S. and Cuban representatives also discussed "modifications in the application of the (U.S.) embargo as it relates to telecommunications," Granma added.

The mouthpiece of the Cuban Communist Party pointed out that many restrictions that "prevent a normal relationship between both countries in (the communications) field" remain in place.