Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong visited a village named after a Vietnamese province, Ben Tre, on June 14 before concluding his visit to Cuba on the same day.

The village was founded in Artemisa province on December 20, 1969, by the Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association under an initiative of a group of Vietnamese students in an effort to honour one of the strongholds of the resistance war against US aggressors in southern Vietnam .

Pupils at the Martires de Tarara primary school located in the village welcomed the Vietnamese statesman and his entourages with songs and dances and poems hailing solidarity and friendship between the two peoples.

The Vietnamese high-level delegation also visited a house-on-the stilt in the village, a symbol of special relations between the two nations. The stilt house was built of wood and bamboo in 1975 as a replica of Uncle Ho’s stilt home. It was an initiative raised by Moncada heroine Melba Hernandez, who was then President of the Committee for Solidarity with Vietnam , Laos and Cambodia .

The day before, Trong attended a trade and investment promotion forum, which was honoured with the presence of Vice Chairman of the Cuban Council of Ministers Ricardo Cabrisas and Minister of Foreign Trade and Overseas Investment Rodrigo Malmierca.

Trong emphasised great potential of bilateral cooperation in economics, trade and investment as well as reiterated Vietnam ’s support for Cuba ’s economic model upgrade.

In reply, Rodrigo Malmierca highlighted Vietnam ’s increasingly important role in Cuba as its second largest trade partner in Asia and the largest rice supplier for the island nation.

During its stay in Cuba , the Vietnamese delegation held working sessions with Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers Ricardo Cabrisas, Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and Head of the Party CC’s External Affairs Department Jose Ramon Balaguer and Heroine title holder Melba Hernandez. The Vietnamese guests also visited the Clinical Tropical Insitute./.