State visit draws Cuba ever closer

Vietnam and Cuba look to create multi-faceted co-operation-Photo: VNA

During State President Truong Tan Sang’s official visit to Cuba on September 28-30, he and his counterpart Raul Castro agreed that the two countries would place priority on revving up negotiations to sign a new trade agreement, which will replace the existing one signed in 1996.

This is aimed to create favourable conditions for the two countries to expand their bilateral trade and investment activities, according to Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Last year, Vietnam-Cuba bilateral trade reached $207.4 million, up 45 per cent on year.

Regarding concrete co-operation projects, the two leaders also agreed that both countries would continue to closely collaborate with each other to implement new agricultural and fisheries projects in Cuba. Other new projects will span from tourism, oil and gas exploration and exploitation to building materials production, consumer goods, software development, and telecommunications equipment manufacturing.

The two countries will also establish a mechanism to create joint ventures in the production of pharmaceutical and new-generation bio-healthcare products.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Cuba currently has only one investment project in Vietnam, with a registered capital of $6.6 million. Meanwhile, Vietnam has only two projects in Cuba, dealing with oil and gas exploration, deployed by PetroVietnam.

Cuba affirmed that it stood ready to help Vietnam strengthen its multi-faceted co-operation with the Latin American and Caribbean nations.

In order to materialise these commitments, the two sides underscored the need to increase high-level visits, while maintaining and expanding inter-governmental committee meetings, strategic dialogues at the defence deputy ministerial level, and political consultancies between deputy foreign ministers.

Sang and Raul Castro also witnessed the signing of a co-operation agreement to develop a five-star hotel complex in Cuba, a government-level mutual recognition of tertiary education qualifications, and a memorandum of understanding on information exchange regarding banking inspection and supervision activities between the State Bank of Vietnam and the Cuban central bank.

Also on this occasion, Sang presented more than 5,000 tonnes of rice as a gift from the Vietnamese people.

Sang also invited Raul Castro to pay an official visit to Vietnam, who accepted with pleassure. Meanwhile, President of the National As-sembly of People’s Power Esteban Lazo Hernández told Sang at a meeting that he wished to re-visit Vietnam in 2016 and welcomed Vietnam’s National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung in his visit to Cuba soon.

Vietnam and Cuba are celebrating their 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations, forged on December 2, 1960.