Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung requested Cuba to step up cooperation and investment in Vietnam while receiving Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz in Hanoi on Oct. 7.
He asked Cuba to continue to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese firms to cooperate and invest in Cuba and encouraged the two sides to speed up trade activities, reaching a higher two-way trade in comparison with the modest figure of 250 million USD in 2010.
The PM highly valued outcomes of the 29th session of the Vietnam-Cuba Intergovernmental Committee in Hanoi the same day, as well as results reached at working sessions between the Cuban minister and leaders of relevant Vietnamese ministries and agencies.
The two sides should accelerate economic, trade and investment cooperation, helping bilateral cooperation in these fields match political and diplomatic relations between the two countries, PM Dung said.
In return, Minister Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, who is also co-chairman of the Vietnam-Cuba Intergovernmental Committee, expressed his pleasure with the steps of all-round development in the Vietnam-Cuba special friendship and cooperation.
He thanked Vietnam for its support and assistance to Cuba during its struggle for national liberation in the past as well as with its current socio-economic development.
The Cuban delegation also held working sessions with the Vietnamese Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Foreign Affairs and Finance and Health, according to the Cuban minister.
He affirmed that Cuba always welcomes and creates favourable conditions for Vietnamese companies to invest in Cuba .
Cuba is ready to share experience and promote cooperation in fields of its strength such as the pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology, he said./.
