New York, April 2 (RHC) -- The elimination of Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism “could occur in the near future,” Stefan M. Selig, the United States’ Assistant Secretary of International Commerce said on Wednesday.

Cuba “must be eliminated from that list because the world has changed since the time in which they were included. It’s consistent with the politics of President Barack Obama,” the Miami Herald quoted Selig as saying during a news conference at NASDAQ headquarters in New York.

During his participation in a Cuba conference, organized by Knowledge@Wharton, a publication of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Selig defended the normalization of relations with Cuba as a “strategic decision” that favors the Cuban people and pointed out that “lifting the embargo is what’s correct,” in reference to the tough economic sanctions imposed on Cuba for over five decades.

The latest remarks followed those of Roberta Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, who said that the review of Cuba’s inclusion on the terrorism list is “advanced” but added “that there’s no conclusions and we can’t prejudge its results.”

Jacobson also said much progress had been made in recent talks between the US and Cuban governments, adding that “publicly, much movement won’t be seen until we open an embassy.”