Panama City: US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro shook hands prior to the inauguration of the 7th Summit of the Americas, a meeting in which the Communist nation is participating for the first time.

The gathering in the Panamanian capital will be remembered as the "reconciliation summit" because of a scheduled meeting on Saturday between Obama and Castro, in what will be the first face-to-face discussions between the leaders of these two countries in nearly 60 years, Spanish news agency Efe reported.