Việt Nam, Cuba seek to bolster all-round ties

First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and President of Cuba Miguel Díaz Canel and Vietnamese President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc witness the signing of cooperation documents between the two countries. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HAVANA — President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc held talks with First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and President of Cuba Miguel Díaz Canel in Havana on September 19 (local time).

The two leaders briefed each other on the recent situation in each country, while discussing measures to continue to bolster the fraternal solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States and peoples, especially in the areas of consumer goods manufacturing, food and aquatic production and renewable energy. They also mentioned regional and international issues of shared concern.

President Phúc conveyed best regards from Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng and senior leaders of the Party and State of Việt Nam to President Miguel Díaz Canel and General Raul Castro and other leaders of Cuba.

He congratulated the Party, State and people of Cuba on their recent achievements as well as the success of the eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, expressing his belief that Cuban people will successfully carry out the congress' resolutions and gain new attainments in the path of building the prosperous and stable socialist country of Cuba.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel thanked Việt Nam for giving sincere and whole-hearted support to Cuba's revolutionary cause in the past and at present, especially during this hard time. He affirmed that Cuba highly values Việt Nam's socio-economic development experience.

Both sides expressed their delight at new and positive steps of development in bilateral special traditional ties in all fields, including politics-diplomacy, security-defence, economy-trade-investment, culture-education, and science-technology. The Việt Nam-Cuba cooperation in agriculture and food security has been maintained with rice, coffee, maize and aquatic development projects, they noted.

President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and President Miguel Díaz-Canel agreed that in the future, both sides should continue to strengthen their political relations through the exchange of delegations at all levels regularly with flexible forms, while enhancing the efficiency of cooperation mechanisms, including the theoretical conference between the two Parties, the Inter-Government Committee, the political consultations between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs, and policy dialogue between the two Defence Ministries.

Việt Nam and Cuba should work closely together to effectively implement the new trade agreement, while optimising advantages from the deal, thus raising two-way trade to a level that matches the potential and sound political ties between the two countries, they said.

President Phúc expressed hope that Cuba will create favourable conditions for Vietnamese investors in Cuba, especially those operating in consumer goods production, food and aquatic product exports, and renewable energy.

Both sides should continue to seek specific measures to turn cooperation potential in healthcare into specific collaboration programmes, they concurred.

The two leaders also pledged to create favourable conditions for and work closely together in the implementation of joint projects in rice, maize, coffee development and aquatic farming in Cuba, toward the goal of Cuba’s self-sufficiency in food production. The two sides will also foster cooperation in culture, science, technology, sports, tourism and training, they said.

President Phúc thanked the Cuban side for giving the highest priority to the provision of Cuban-developed COVID-19 vaccine to Việt Nam, describing this as evidence of the timely support that Cuba has always given to Việt Nam like Cuban leader Fidel Castro said "for Việt Nam Cuba is willing to shed its blood".

The two leaders praised the close coordination and mutual support at international organisations and multilateral forums, especially the UN and the Non-Aligned Movement. They also affirmed their support for the settlement of disputes through peaceful measures in line with international law.

On the occasion, President Phúc announced Việt Nam’s gift of 5,000 tonnes of rice, as well as medical equipment to Cuba. Some Vietnamese ministries and sectors also offered gifts to Cuba, including 1,000 tonnes of rice from construction firms, and 100 tonnes of maize from the Ministry of Defence, and medical equipment and IT software from other ministries.

President Phúc also took the opportunity to invite President Miguel Diaz Canel to visit Việt Nam soon.

Following the talks, on behalf of the Party, State and people of Cuba, President Miguel Diaz Canel presented the Vietnamese State leader with the José Marti Order, the highest honour of the Cuban State, in recognition of President Phuc's contributions to the acceleration of solidarity, friendship and cooperation between the two Parties, States and people.

The two leaders also witnessed the signing of a number of agreements between the two countries, including a plan of action to implement the medium-term economic agenda in the 2021-2025 period; a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two ministries of health, a plan to conduct a project to support Cuba's aquatic farming sector in the third phase between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Cuba's Ministry of Food Industry; a cooperation programme in 2022-2023 between the two ministries of justice; as well as an MoU on cooperation plans in cybersecurity between the Ministry of Information and Communications and Cuba's Ministry of Communications.

Within the visit's framework, the two sides issued a joint statement of the two countries on the occasion of the Vietnamese President's Cuban visit. — VNS