Cuban Ambassador highlights historical significance of top Vietnamese leader’s Cuba visit

The visit by the State leader, who is a great friend of the Cuban people, Party, and Government is very special, will be the first made by a top leader of the Party and State of Vietnam to the Caribbean nation. During the course of the visit, both sides are set to reach important agreements in the Party aspect as a means of contributing to strengthening the relations between the two Parties.

The Cuban diplomat outlined that delegation exchanges and meetings through the Party, parliament, and Government channels will all serve to have a positive impact on the relationship that exists between the two countries, as well as important co-operation areas.

On the threshold of the visit, an inter-parliamentary meeting between the two sides with the participation of a Vice Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) of Vietnam and the President of the NA of People's Power of Cuba, along with leaders of NA committees on economics, politics, and society of the two sides, will be held.

The outcomes of the meeting are expected to make direct contributions to the top Vietnamese leader’s visit, outlined the Cuban diplomat.

The two sides are therefore keen to further ramp up  ties across multiple fields such as economics, trade, locality-to-locality collaboration, external relations, and diplomacy.

Cuba was the first country in the western hemisphere with which the Vietnamese side established relations. Throughout the ups and downs of their respective history, Vietnam and Cuba have stood by each other's side and supported each other through difficult and complex moments, as well as coming together to fight common enemies. This is therefore evidence of the special brotherhood between the two countries over the past 65 years.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, both sides intensified their mutual support by providing each other with supplies, medicine, and vaccines.

For many years, Vietnam has been an important partner in Cuba's economic opening policy. The nation has been the biggest investor and second largest trade partner of Cuba in Asia, said the Ambassador, expressing his hope that new investment co-operation deals will be reached in the future.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese side has been the only country outside of the Latin American region with which Cuba has signed an agreement on trade preferences, promoting the presence of Vietnamese products within the Cuban market, as well as facilitating the sale of Cuban medical products and other traditional ones such as rum and cigarettes.

The two sides have also signed a medium-term bilateral economic agenda, while launching the intergovernmental committee mechanism and increasing exchanges in both political and legal fields.

The enhancement of the positive relations between the two parliaments, the two Ministries of Justice, and the two Supreme Courts therefore offers the most optimal conditions possible for the two sides to exchange experience in areas that play a key role in bilateral ties.

With regard to the political relations that exist between the two Parties, Ambassador Guillen said that the two sides have held conferences to increase experience exchange on Party building. Both states share many similarities, he said, explaining that the two countries are on the same development path under the leadership of the Communist Parties and face plenty of challenges, both internal and external.

Bilateral linkages in relation to culture have also been boosted, he said, adding that one of the first activities to mark the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations will be an art programme performed by the Cuban National Ballet.

The Cuban side is poised to intensify  exchange with the nation at all levels from schools, organizations, women’s unions, to fronts, with a view to diversifying a broad array of activities in celebration of this special occasion, the diplomat continued.

He affirmed that all of the agreements reached by the two sides across all fields aim to strengthen bilateral ties and learn from each other’s experience.

Amid the current complicated world situation with numerous threats, the two countries have shared common viewpoints on the world's most pressing issues, the Ambassador said, stressing that this visit will show the world that the two countries always offer mutual support to cope with today's increasingly complex international challenges.