Havana (VNA) – President Nguyen Xuan Phuc heldtalks with First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba CentralCommittee and President of Cuba Miguel Díaz Canel in Havana on September 19.

The two leaders briefed each other on the recent situation ineach country, while discussing measures to continue to bolster the fraternalsolidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States andpeoples, especially in the areas of consumer goods manufacturing, food and aquatic productionand renewable energy. They also mentioned regional and international issues ofshared concern. 

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc conveyed best regards from PartyGeneral Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and senior leaders of the Party and State ofVietnam to President Miguel Díaz Canel and General Raul Castro and otherleaders of Cuba.

He congratulated the Party, State and people of Cuba on their recent achievements as well as the success of the eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, expressing hisbelief that Cuban people will successfully carry out the congress’ resolutions and gain new attainments in the path of building a prosperous and stablesocialist country of Cuba.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel thanked Vietnam for giving sincere and whole-heartedsupport to Cuba’s revolutionary cause in the past and at present, especially inthis hard time. He affirmed that Cuba highly values Vietnam’s socio-economicdevelopment experience.

Both sides expressed their delight at new and positive steps of development in bilateral specialtraditional ties in all fields, including politics-diplomacy, security-defence,economy-trade-investment, culture-education, and science-technology. TheVietnam-Cuba cooperation in agriculture and food security has been maintainedwith rice, coffee, maize and aquatic development projects, they noted.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and President Miguel Díaz-Canelagreed that in the time to come, both sides should continue to strengthen theirpolitical relations through the exchange of delegations at all levels regularlywith flexible forms, while enhancing the efficiency of cooperation mechanisms,including the theoretical conference between the two Parties, the Inter-GovernmentCommittee, the political consultations between the two Ministries of ForeignAffairs, and policy dialogue between the two Defence Ministries.

Vietnam and Cuba should work closely together to effectively implement the newtrade agreement, while optimising preferences from the deal, thus raisingtwo-way trade to a level that matches the potential and sound politicalties between the two countries, they said.

President Phuc expressed hope that Cuba will createfavourable conditions for Vietnamese investors in Cuba, especially those operating inconsumer goods production, food and aquatic product export, and renewableenergy.

Both sides should continue to seek specific measures to turncooperation potential in health care into specific collaboration programmes,they concurred.

The two leaders also pledged to create favourable conditionsfor and working closely together in the implementation of joint projects inrice, maize, coffee development and aquatic farming in Cuba, toward the goal of Cuba's self-sufficiency  in food. The two sides will also foster cooperationin culture, science, technology, sports, tourism and training, they said.


President Phuc thanked the Cuban side to give highestpriority to the provision of Cuban-developed COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam,describing this as evidence for the timely support that Cuba has alwaysgiven to Vietnam like Cuban leader Fidel Castro saying “for Vietnam, Cuba iswilling to shed its blood”.

The two leaders shared pleasure at the close coordination and mutual support atinternational organisations and multilateral forums, especially the UN and the Non-AlignedMovement. They also affirmed their support to the settlement of disputesthrough peaceful measures in line with international law.

On the occasion, President Phuc announced Vietnam’s gift of5,000 tonnes of rice and a number of medical equipment to Cuba. Some Vietnameseministries and sectors also offered presents to Cuba, including 1,000 tonnes of rice fromconstruction firms, and 100 tonnes of maize from the Ministry of Defence, and medical equipment and IT software from other ministries.

President Phuc also took the opportunity to invite President  MiguelDiaz Canel to visit Vietnam soon.

Following the talks, on behalf of the Party, State and people of Cuba,President Miguel Diaz Canel presented the Vietnamese State leader with JoséMarti Order, the noblest reward of the Cuban State, in recognition of PresidentPhuc’s contributions to the acceleration of solidarity, friendship andcooperation between the two Parties, States and people.


The two leaders also witnessed the signing of a number ofagreements between the two countries, including a plan of action to implementthe middle-term economic agenda in the 2021-2025 period; a memorandum ofunderstanding (MoU) between the two ministries of health, a plan to conduct aproject to support Cuba’s aquatic farming sector in the third phase between theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Cuba’s Ministry of FoodIndustry; a cooperation programme in the 2022-2023 between the two ministriesof justice; a MoU on cooperation plan in cybersecurity between the Ministry ofInformation and Communications and Cuba’s Ministry of Communications.

Within the visit’s framework, the two sides issued a joint statementof the two countries on the occasion of the Vietnamese President’s Cubanvisit./.