The United States has abstained for the first time on a General Assembly resolution calling for an end to the US economic embargo on Cuba.
The US embargo has been in place for more than 50 years, and for the 24 years that the resolution has come before Member States, the US has voted against it.
Relations between Cuba and the US began to normalize in 2014, but the US Congress has resisted calls from the administration of Barack Obama to lift the embargo.
US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said that the decision not to vote against the resolution should be viewed as one more step towards restoring full diplomatic relations between the two countries.
