PANAMA — President Obama is nearing a decision on removing Cuba’s three-decade-old designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, citing progress in his push to normalize relations with the island nation as he arrived here on Thursday night for a summit meeting of Latin American leaders.

On the eve of the gathering, where he will come face to face with the Cuban president, Raul Castro, for the first time since he announced in December that he would seek to normalize relations with the country, Mr. Obama said the State Department had completed a review that he had ordered of Cuba’s status on the list of states that sponsor terrorism.

“Our emphasis has been on the facts,” Mr. Obama said earlier on Thursday in Kingston, Jamaica, where he met with Caribbean leaders on energy and security cooperation and started a young leaders’ initiative. “We want to make sure that given that this is a powerful tool to isolate those countries that genuinely do support terrorism, that when we make those designations we’ve got strong evidence that, in fact, that’s the case.”

“As circumstances change, then that list will change as well,” he said, adding that he would not make a formal announcement until he had received a final recommendation from his advisers.