By David Alexander and Ana Isabel Martinez
PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama discussed a new regional partnership with Latin American and Caribbean leaders on Saturday, and he won early approval from Venezuela, a strident critic of Washington.
Obama, in Trinidad and Tobago attending his first Summit of the Americas, has promised an era of better cooperation with the hemisphere and a fresh start with left-wing Cuba and Venezuela.
"I think we're making progress at the summit," Obama told reporters after meeting with key leaders from South America ahead of summit plenary sessions in Port of Spain.
Chavez, a leftist standard-bearer for anti-U.S. sentiment in Latin America, shook hands with Obama late on Friday in a signal of improved relations between his OPEC nation and its largest oil client, the United States. He expelled the U.S. ambassador to Caracas last year in a dispute over ally Bolivia.
Asked on Saturday whether ties would improve with Obama in the White House, Chavez told Venezuelan state television: "I don't have the slightest doubt."
"We've begun talking with Obama and I think we've got off to a good start," Chavez told reporters.
As Saturday's meeting started, Chavez presented the U.S. leader with a book, a Spanish-language copy of "The Open Veins of Latin America" by left-wing Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano. Obama accepted the gift with a smile.
"I thought it was one of Chavez's books," he joked later. "I was going to give him one of mine."
The Port of Spain gathering, the first Summit of the Americas to be held in the English-speaking Caribbean, is looking at ways to counter the global economic crisis and develop energy resources, tackle the dangers of climate change and the threats of arms smuggling and drug trafficking.
But the build-up to the meeting has been dominated by debate over U.S.-Cuban ties after both Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro indicated they were ready to talk to try to end more than half a century of ideological enmity.
"Cuba is important but it will not dominate the Summit," Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo told Reuters. "Everyone spoke about the need to improve relations (between the region and the United States) and this was an historic opportunity to do so."
U.S. SEEKS 'NEW BEGINNING' WITH CUBA
Obama told regional leaders on Friday his administration wanted a new beginning with communist-ruled Cuba to try to end a conflict that has marked the hemisphere for half a century.
Obama said he also was open to discuss with Havana issues ranging from human rights to the economy but he has demanded political reforms from the Cuban leadership.
His meeting with 33 other leaders from the hemisphere came after Raul Castro had said his government was ready to talk about "everything" with the United States, including political prisoners and press freedom.
Before the summit, Obama eased parts of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba and the signals from both sides have raised hopes of a historic rapprochement between Cold War adversaries Washington and Havana.
Cuba is excluded from the Trinidad meeting and in the past has rejected any attempt to link an improvement in ties with Washington with internal reform.
Regional heads of state -- from Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to Venezuela's Chavez and Caribbean leaders attending the summit -- have called on Obama to end the long-standing U.S. sanctions against Cuba.
(Additional reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and Linda Hutchinson-Jafar in Port of Spain; writing by Patrick Markey; editing by Pascal Fletcher and Mohammad Zargham)
