The Vietnam-Cuba Intergovernmental Committee for Economic, Commercial, Scientific and Technological Cooperation convened its 31 st meeting in Hanoi on September 17.

In his opening speech, Construction Minister Trinh Dinh Dung, who leads the Vietnamese side to the Committee, reiterated Vietnam’s consistent policy of supporting Cuban people’s revolutionary cause.
He noted with pleasure the two countries’ fruitful cooperation in biological technology, vaccine production and healthcare.

Minister Dung highlighted the initial encouraging outcomes of the Vietnam-Cuba cooperative programme on rice production designed for the 2009-2015 period, saying these achievements helped the Latin American country raise its rice output, ease its dependence on rice import and ensure on-the-spot food security.

“Vietnam will do its utmost to boost cooperation in economics, trade, culture, education, science and technology with Cuba,” Dung said.

Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, who heads the Cuban Subcommittee, expressed his hope for Vietnamese companies’ continued investments in oil and mineral exploration and exploitation, renewable energy, tourism, information technology, and agriculture in Cuba.

During the meeting, the two sides also analysed outstanding hindrances to bilateral cooperation and sought solutions to these problems.

They were scheduled to reach a consensus on a cooperation content for the 2013-2014 period as well as the medium-term bilateral economic agenda.-VNA