During the interview, the Cuban diplomat recalled important events in the bilateral ties, including the state visit to Cuba by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in March 2018, during which 22 documents were signed. In November 2018, President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers of Cuba Miguel Mario Diáz-Canel Bermúdez officially visited Vietnam, during which the two sides signed a new trade agreement to lift the bilateral cooperation to a new level.
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Cuban Ambassador to Vietnam Lianys Torres Rivera |
She also mentioned the role of Vietnam as ASEAN Chair 2020 and the ASEAN member states’ ratification of Cuba’s engagement in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.
Regarding the bilateral defense cooperation, Ambassador Rivera highlighted the maintenance of high-level delegation exchange over the past time. She noted the official visits to Cuba by Defense Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich in 2017 and by Deputy Defense Minister Sr. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh in 2019 as well as the visits to Vietnam by Politburo member of the Communist Party of Cuba (CPC) and Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba Sr. Lt. Gen. Leopoldo Cintra Frias in 2018 and by Politburo member of the CPC, Chief of the General Staff and First Deputy Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba Sr. Lt. Gen. Álvaro López Miera in 2019.
The Cuban diplomat also underscored the mutual support between the two countries in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. According to her, Cuba sent three medical experts to Vietnam to share COVID-19 treatment experience and provided Vietnam with medicines to cure severe COVID-19 patients. In turn, Vietnam gave medical supplies and necessities to Cuba to fight COVID-19.
She highly valued Vietnam’s good control of COVID-19. She affirmed that Vietnam’s success in combating COVID-19 has stemmed from the solidarity among the Party, State, and people, the earlier effective investment in all resources and infrastructure, and the IT application to identifying sources of infection.
Talking about the future development of the bilateral relationship, the Cuban diplomat suggested the two sides give priority to economic and trade cooperation and realize more cooperation projects on agriculture, healthcare, bio-technology, finance, transportation, science and technology, IT and telecommunication.
Saying that there remains much room for bilateral cooperation in tourism, culture, pharmacy, food industry and energy, she confirmed that Cuba is willing to support Vietnamese enterprises in seeking investment opportunities in Cuba.
She underlined that Cuban government has been improving business environment to attract more foreign investment, including the one-door mechanism, adding that the country welcomes more Vietnamese businesses to contribute to its economic development.
The Cuban diplomat informed that both nations are exerting all-out efforts to increase the presence of Vietnamese products in Cuba and boost exports of Cuba’s medicines and bio products to Vietnam as well.
Translated by Mai Huong