Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan held working sessions with leaders of the Cuban Ministries of Public Health and Higher Education on April 11 in Havana within the framework of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s official friendship visit to Cuba.

At the sessions, the two sides discussed the possibilities of the Cuban Ministry of Higher Education and the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training engaging in student exchanges, post-education activities, cooperation in the development of tertiary education and research in biotechnology, social science and humanities.

The Cuban side showed interests in cooperation to train doctors and health specialists as well as the provision of medicines, equipment and experts for Vietnam.

The same day, Vietnamese Finance Minister Vuong Dinh Hue held a working session with Cuban Minister of Finance and Prices Lina Pedraza Rodriguez.

The two ministers agreed to increase the exchange of information and expertise in financial management, budget collection and expenditure, tax policy and management, treasury, price management, accounting and other issues.

They signed a memorandum of understanding on financial cooperation for 2012-2015.

Minister Hue presented 52 sets of computers to the Cuban Ministry of Finance and Prices.

Minister Lina Pedraza Rodriguez affirmed a wish to beef up cooperation with Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance, highlighting Vietnam’s practical assistance to Cuba in building financial policy and financial management mechanisms.

Also on April 11, Minister of Construction Trinh Dinh Dung worked with his Cuban counterpart Rene Mesa Villafana and attended the Havana Industry Exhibition and Fair.
Dung also held a working session with Cuban Minister of Tourism Manuel Cruz and witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Housing and Urban Development Holdings and Cubanacan Hotel and Tourism Service Corporation on building a five-star hotel in Havana.

In the evening of April 11, Politburo member and Secretary of the Hanoi Party’s Committee Pham Quang Nghi attended the inauguration of a road with the Vietnam-funded lighting system in Havana.

The Zapata road connects the Peace Park where a President Ho Chi Minh statue is located and August Revolutionary Square where Cuban Hero Jose Marti’s statue stands.-VNA