Hanoi (VNA) - National Assembly (NA) Chairman Tran Thanh Man hosted an official welcome ceremony in Hanoi on September 30 afternoon for Esteban Lazo Hernández, President of the National Assembly of People’s Power and President of the Council of State of Cuba, who is paying an official visit to Vietnam.
In their talks held following the welcome ceremony, the two leaders briefed each other on the situation in each country and recent activities of the two parliaments. They discussed orientations and measures to further consolidate the special friendship, solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States, National Assemblies and people of Vietnam and Cuba, and exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern.
Chairman Man warmly welcomed his Cuban counterpart and the high-level delegation, noting the significance of the visit as Vietnam has marked the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day and both countries are celebrating the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1960–2025), and the Vietnam–Cuba Friendship Year. He expressed his belief that the visit would further deepen the exemplary ties between the two countries and their legislatures.
The top legislator affirmed that Vietnam always treasures and hopes to deepen its special traditional relations and all-round cooperation with Cuba, and congratulated the Cuban Party, State, National Assembly and people on the achievements made since the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, overcoming difficulties to firmly defend the homeland and remain steadfast on the path of building socialism.
For his part, Esteban Lazo showed his solidarity and sympathy to Vietnam over the severe impacts of recent Storms No. 9 and No. 10.
He expressed deep gratitude to the Vietnamese Party, State, NA and people for their genuine and consistent support for the Cuban revolution in defending and building the country, particularly during challenging times.
Esteban Lazo highlighted contributions from the Vietnamese people through the support campaign launched by the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the Vietnam Red Cross Society, stressing that this meaningful assistance will be directed towards urgent socio-economic needs to improve the Cuban people's livelihoods.
The Cuban leader congratulated Vietnam on successfully organising major celebrations in 2025 and expressed his confidence that, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Vietnamese people will achieve the goals set by the 13th National Party Congress and attain greater successes in the country’s new era.
The two sides reviewed the overall bilateral agenda and agreed on concrete measures to further strengthen cooperation between the two nations and their parliaments under the spirit of companionship, cooperation and development together.
They reaffirmed that, despite complex global developments, the Vietnam–Cuba relationship has continued to grow dynamically and substantively, standing as a “model” of international relations. The two sides were pleased to see that the good political-diplomatic relations, solidarity, and trust between the two countries have reached a new level of profound and practical development, through all three channels of Party diplomacy, State diplomacy, and people-to-people diplomacy via two state visits by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and State President To Lam in September 2024 and First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel in September 2025.
Economic-trade and investment relations have made remarkable progress in essential areas for the Cuban economy, in a practical and effective direction, with initial successful implementation of a number of important cooperation projects, in line with the needs and potential of each side in the fields of agriculture-food, biotechnology-pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, and consumer goods production. Cooperation in the fields of culture, education, people-to-people exchange, and between all levels from the central to local levels has become increasingly intensive, substantial, and diverse.
The two top legislators assessed that the relationship between the two legislative bodies has been consolidated and enhanced through regular and flexible exchanges of information and experience in organising the activities of the NA, building institutions, legal systems, supervising the implementation of laws, and deciding on important issues of the country.
They agreed to continue to support the exchange of delegations at all levels in the coming time, regularly maintain cooperation mechanisms between the two Parties, Governments, NAs and bilateral political-diplomatic, economic-trade and defence mechanisms.
The two sides also agreed to continue to coordinate to promote the effective implementation of legal policies to support businesses, increase investment in areas suitable to the needs, conditions and capacity of each country; create conditions and supervise the effective implementation of agreed key cooperation projects; and concretise other potential areas of cooperation such as tourism, telecommunications, digital transformation, among others.
The two sides agreed to increase the exchange of experience between the two countries and the two NAs on law-making, implementing major policies of the Party in the new era, preparing and effectively implementing the National Party Congresses of Vietnam and Cuba in 2026; sharing experience, encouraging business development, attracting foreign investment, financial management, developing agricultural production, applying science and technology, digital transformation and other areas of mutual interest to the two NAs, thereby contributing to consolidating, diversifying and improving the effectiveness of the comprehensive cooperation relations between Vietnam and Cuba.
The two leaders also agreed to create conditions and encourage people’s organisations and localities to maintain regular relations, coordinate to effectively implement agreements and commitments between the leaders of the two countries, and promote new cooperation methods, focusing on practical effectiveness, while continuing to propagate, mobilise people and educate the young generation of the two countries about the tradition of Vietnam-Cuba relations.
The top Vietnamese and Cuban legislators also discussed international and regional issues of mutual concern, and agreed to continue to consult, closely coordinate and support each other at international organisations and multilateral forums of which the two legislatures are members, especially at the Inter-Parliamentary Union General Assembly.
On this occasion, Chairman Man extended his regards to Cuban Revolutionary Leader General Raul Castro Ruz and other high-ranking Cuban leaders.
Esteban Lazo invited Chairman Man to pay an official visit to Cuba, and the latter accepted the invitation with pleasure.
On September 30 evening, Chairman Man hosted a banquet in honour of Esteban Lazo and the Cuban delegation.
On October 1 morning, the Vietnamese and Cuban leaders will co-chair the second session of the Vietnam-Cuba Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee./.
