Cuba is ready to name an ambassador to the United States by the end of the month, the Communist country's leader, Raúl Castro, said on Tuesday, according to the Washington Post.

Castro also anticipated Washington would send a top envoy to Havana, thus completing the restoration of full diplomatic relations that has been the goal of the rapprochement he and President Barack Obama announced in December.

The island nation expects to be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism before June, a step Havana has said is necessary to create an "appropriate context" for renewed relations, the newspaper noted.

"This sort of unjust accusation is about to be lifted," Castro revealed at an airport ceremony concluding the historic visit of French President François Hollande. "And then we'll be able to name ambassadors," the leader added.

He said the negotiations with the United States were "going well" and defended their pace, United Press International detailed, citing reports by the local Prensa Latina newswire.

"Many people are wondering and criticizing why we are going very slowly with the negotiations," Castro acknowledged. "Why do we have to rush? To make mistakes? We don't want to take any measures that would sacrifice our people. That's the most important thing," the brother of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro added.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told Politico that Obama "may" have chosen a future U.S. ambassador to Cuba, though he declined to comment further on the matter. Washington and Havana have not had full diplomatic relations since 1961, when the United States withdrew its envoy and closed its embassy, the publication recalled.

Castro, meanwhile, already pointed to items he wants to be on the agenda for future talks, Política y Medios noted.

"Once the ambassadors are named (and) diplomatic relations are re-established ... we will have 'relations,'" he said. "But to 'normalize relations' is another topic; the embargo has to be completely eliminated, and the (U.S. Naval) base at Guantánamo has to be returned," the Cuban leader insisted.