NATIONAL BRIEFING / WASHINGTON, D.C.

Cuba has agreed to resume talks with the Obama administration on legal immigration of Cubans to the United States and direct mail service between the countries, a State Department official said.

The communist government notified the U.S. on Saturday that it had accepted a recent administration overture to restart the immigration talks, suspended by President George W. Bush after the last meeting in 2003. Cuba also expressed a willingness to cooperate with the U.S. on fighting terrorism and drug trafficking, and on hurricane disaster preparedness.

The official, who spoke to reporters before Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton left on a trip to El Salvador and Honduras, said the Cuban response was a positive development and a “clear signal” that the administration and the Havana government were willing to engage.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the time and place for the resumed talks had not been determined.

The latest development comes before Clinton’s participation at a meeting Tuesday in Honduras, where Cuba’s possible readmission to the Organization of American States is expected to be discussed.

She said the Obama administration was committed to a “new approach to the hemisphere and to Cuba.”