NA leader’s Cuba visit a success beyond expectations: expert

NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (L) and President of the NA of the People’s Power of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernandez at the welcome ceremony for the Vietnamese leader in Havana on April 20 (local time). (Photo: VNA)

Havana (VNA) – The freshly concluded visit to Cubaby National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue was a greater-than-expectedsuccess, creating a chance for the two countries to enhance their long-standingrelations in politics - diplomacy, economy - trade and investment, security -defence, and people-to-people exchange.

So said Dr Ruvislei Gonzalez Saez, Vice President of the Cuba- Vietnam Friendship Association and Director of the International RelationsProgramme of Cuba, in an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)following NA Chairman Hue’s visit.

He described the trip as comprehensive and a demonstration ofthe special traditional friendship between the two peoples, noting that the Hue was welcomed by the top leaders of Cuba, including revolutionaryleader Raul Castro, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba andPresident of the country Miguel Diaz-Canel, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz,and President of the NA of the People’s Power Esteban Lazo Hernandez.

Chairman Hue was the first foreign leader to directlycongratulate new leaders of Cuba after its 10th NA was elected andto deliver a speech in front of the Cuban parliament at a special session.

The honours reserved for him shows the specialness of bilateral ties, Gonzalez Saeznoted.

The researcher held that Chairman Hue’s visit and hisactivities in Havana and Santiago de Cuba city were highly meaningful. The triptook place amid the 62nd anniversary of the Giron Victory, the 60th founding anniversary of the Cuban Committee for Solidarity with South Vietnam,and 50 years since Commander-in-chief Fidel Castro visitedVietnam and the liberated zone in Quang Tri. Fidel Castro was the first andonly foreign head of state to do so during wartime.

General Director of the Vietnam News Agency Vu Viet Trang (R) and President of the Prensa Latina news agency Luis Enrique Gonzalez Acosta sign a new cooperation agreement in Havana on April 18. (Photo: VNA)

The visit obtained many concrete results, especially thesigning of the 10 agreements and memoranda of understanding between the two sides’agencies and sectors, he said, highlighting the agreement on parliamentarycooperation between the two NAs, the cooperation deal between the VNA and the PrensaLatina news agency, and the cooperation programmes between the countries’ministries of justice, science and technology, and construction.

He also pointed out some considerable results in economicties, including the inauguration of Vietnamese firms’ washing powder and solarpower plants at the Mariel Special Economic Zone, where Vietnam is the biggestAsian investor with five businesses committing to invest over 160 million USD.

Vietnam has poured investment into the light industry, farmproduce, food, and renewable energy sectors in Cuba, Gonzalez Saez noted,adding that it is the second largest Asian trading partner of his country withbilateral trade approximating 340 million USD and expected to reach 500 millionUSD soon.

During Chairman Hue’s visit, a Cuba - Vietnam business forumwas held for their enterprises to discuss the potential of partnerships inrice, coffee, cereal, animal feed, and meat production and marketing, as wellas in hotel renovation projects.

Amid a complicated context facing Cuba, includingintensified embargoes and an adverse international situation, the visit showedthat Vietnam always stands side by side with Cuba, he said.

It marked a comprehensive re-start of relations and that anew path in the two countries’ ties is taking shape under the leadership of new-generationleaders, who are proving that the ideologies of late President Ho Chi Minh andCommander-in-chief Fidel Castro will live forever with the time-testedfraternity between Cuba and Vietnam, according to the expert./.

VNA