Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez talks to President Barack Obama during the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday, April 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Miraflores Press Office)
Caracas (AP) – Venezuela and the United States said Wednesday that they will return ambassadors to each other's capitals.

A U.S. spokesman in Washington said the time frame was still unclear, but a top Venezuelan official said later that the exchange would happen soon.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has expressed hope for improved relations with Washington following years of tensions with the Bush administration, while President Barack Obama says his government wants to improve ties with all nations in the Western Hemisphere.

Chavez's foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, said the two nations have agreed to overturn the "persona non grata" status given each other's ambassadors in September, when Chavez expelled U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy and recalled his envoy to Washington.

Chavez acted then to show solidarity with Bolivia after Bolivian President Evo Morales ordered out the top U.S. diplomat in his country, accusing him of helping the opposition incite violence. Washington denied the allegation and reacted by expelling both the envoys of both Venezuela and Brazil.

Maduro said that he had spoken with Thomas Shannon, the top U.S. diplomat for the Americas, and that they "effectively reached an agreement on the proposal" to restore ambassadors as part of an effort to improve relations.

"The two ambassadors will re-establish their positions immediately _ our ambassador, Bernardo Alvarez, in Washington and the U.S. ambassador, Patrick Duddy, in Caracas," Maduro said.

Earlier, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters in Washington that the two nations were "currently taking the necessary measures" to exchange ambassadors, but said it was unclear when it would happen or who the U.S. envoy would be.

After his testy relations with the Bush presidency, Chavez has warmed to the Obama administration. He greeted the new U.S. president with handshakes at an April summit in Trinidad and Tobago, where he discussed restoring ambassadors with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Robin Holzhauer, said that since the summit, "we've been looking toward the goal of restoring ambassadors to our respective capitals."