PARIS — France called on the United States to lift the economic embargo against Cuba during a historic state visit Monday by the Caribbean island’s president.

Raul Castro’s trip comes after a breakthrough deal was reached in the French capital in December to lighten Cuba’s foreign debt. Last week France hosted the leader of another longtime pariah state: Iran.

French President Francois Hollande, the former leader of France’s Socialist party, greeted Castro on Monday with a warm hug in the courtyard of the Elysee presidential palace and then started the meeting saying ‘‘Vive Cuba!’’ (“Long live Cuba!’’)

Both presidents vowed to develop economic, political, and cultural ties during a joint news appearance.

The United States agreed to normalize relations with Cuba in December 2014, but it still maintains an economic embargo on the island.

Hollande told journalists that ‘‘President Obama ... must now follow through and allow this vestige of the Cold War to end.’’ France has called for the lifting of the US embargo since 1991.

‘‘We appreciate France’s traditional position in favor of the lifting of the economic, commercial, and financial embargo from the United States against Cuba, which is the main obstacle to the development of our country,’’ Castro said.

Cuba wants ‘‘to diversify the bilateral relation with France in all its dimensions: political, economic, business, financial, academic and cultural cooperation,’’ he said.

Castro, 84, is on his first state visit to Europe since taking over from his elder brother Fidel in 2006. The Cuban president briefly stopped in Rome last year to meet with Pope Francis. Hollande was the first French leader to visit Cuba in a half-century when he went in May seeking to boost trade.

Associated Press