Panama City, April 11 (RHC) — Cuban President Raul Castro and U.S. President Barack Obama will hold a bilateral meeting Saturday on the margins of the Summit of the Americas here, the first such encounter between leaders of the two nations in more than 50 years, White House officials said.

The leaders’ meeting will occur on the margins of Saturday’s formal summit gatherings, when “we anticipate they will have a discussion,” US deputy national security adviser Benjamin Rhodes said.

Earlier on Friday, the two presidents shook hands and chatted for a brief moment, as they arrived for the inauguration of the Summit of the Americas in Panama.

Confirmation of a Saturday meeting came as the Cuban delegation to a gathering of civil society leaders said it would not attend meetings being held in Panama as part of the summit because of the presence of “terrorist individuals” and “mercenaries” it said were in the pay of foreign powers.