Cuba and Vietnam increase bilateral relations

NGUYEN Thi Doan, vice president of Vietnam, has presented Cuban Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura with a donation of $300,000 and 300 tons of rice – worth $200,000 and previously agreed – on behalf of the Communist Party, the government and the people of that Asian nation, to help the victims of the hurricanes that recently lashed the island.  During the fraternal encounter, the two sides expressed their satisfaction at the extent of bilateral relations and agreed to continue increasing economic and commercial exchange.  Machado Ventura took the opportunity to express the gratitude of the Cuban people and government for the cooperation offered by Vietnam in the wake of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.  The distinguished visitor also had talks with Carlos Lage Dávila, vice president of the Council of State, and used the occasion to express her admiration after learning something of the history of José Martí, the Cuban national hero, in a visit to the monument bearing his name in the capital’s Plaza de la Revolución. Lage also expressed his thanks for the demonstrations of solidarity from the Vietnamese people and emphasized that relations between the two countries are growing stronger every year.

I ADMIRE THE EFFORTS OF THE CUBAN PEOPLE WITH RESPECT TO THE RECOVERY

"I have been able to see the damage caused by the hurricanes and I admire the efforts of the Cuban people with respect to the recovery," affirmed Thi Doan during a business forum at the Hotel Nacional aimed at widening and diversifying economic and commercial relations between the two nations.  The vice president used the occasion to announce the presentation of $300,000 and 300 tons of rice on behalf of the Party, the government and the people of Vietnam, and explained that they would also be donating $26,000 from the Union of Vietnamese Women; $10,000 from the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Association and $18,000 from a group of firms. During this, her first visit to Cuba, Thi Doan is leading an important delegation comprising Tran Thi Thuy, president of the Council of Vietnamese Business Women; Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, minister of labor, invalid and social affairs and president of the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Association; Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa, president of the Union of Vietnamese Women; Pham Binh Minh, first deputy minister of foreign affairs, as well as representatives of 30 textile, pharmaceutical, agricultural and transport comapnies.

At the business forum, Thi Doan described the current relations of friendship and solidarity between Vietnam and Cuba as exemplary and confirmed that the two nations were together in the trenches of struggle of the past and today, they continue side by side in the trenches for the peace and the prosperity of their peoples.  She thanked the Party, government, and the people of Cuba for the help that offered to her country during the war against foreign aggressors and afterward, during the recovery stage.  For her part, Tran Thi Thuy, president of the Council of Vietnamese Business Women, referred to the still modest results in terms of economic and commercial exchange and highlighted the importance of the forum for promoting new areas of investment and cooperation.  JOINT VENTURE FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

An example of this cooperation was the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Cuban Palmares Hotelier Business Group and the Vietnamese HUD Residential and City Planning Development Investment Group, for the creation of a joint venture aimed at developing tourism infrastructure in Cuba.  In a conversation with Granma International, Thi Thuy explained that investments will be focused on the construction of a 36-hole golf course and a recreation center, among other projects.

BILATERAL EXCHANGE EXCEEDS $450 MILLION

During the forum, Ricardo Cabrisas, vice president of the Council of Ministers, confirmed that Vietnam has become Cuba’s second trading partner in Asia and noted that bilateral exchange currently exceeds $450 million. Vietnam is the principal supplier of rice to the island but the nation is also supporting developments in the production of this and other grains as part of a program of food security promoted by Cuba. Likewise, the nation provides computer equipment, fans, and energy-saving light bulbs.  During a visit to the Central Computer Palace in the Cuban capital, Thi Doan and her accompanying delegation learned that 145 Vietnamese-manufactured machines installed in that center out of a total of 200,000 distributed throughout national territory.  Cuba, for its part, is cooperating in the fields of education and healthcare, in the latter through the export of vaccines and other medicines manufactured in the West Havana Scientific Complex.  In the oil industry, the PetroVietnam corporation has signed a contract with Cubapetróleo (CUPET) for prospecting for hydrocarbons in Cuba.

Translated by Granma International