Defense minister receives Cuban ambassador

General Phan Van Giang receives Cuban Ambassador Orlando Nicolás Hernández Guillén.

At the reception, General Giang welcomed the newly-appointed Cuban ambassador to Vietnam and expressed his belief that the Cuban diplomat would have a successful working term, contributing to strengthening the traditional relationship between the two parties, governments, states, peoples, and militaries.

The Vietnamese defense chief underlined that Vietnam always bears in mind the wholehearted support of the Party, government, people, and revolutionary armed forces of Cuba in the national revolutionary and construction cause. Vietnam always educates present and future generations of Vietnamese to preserve and promote the fruitful traditional relations between Vietnam and Cuba.

The host expressed deep gratitude for Cuba’s sentiments and support in the COVID-19 fight. He confirmed that despite certain impacts of the pandemic, the bilateral defense ties have been consolidated and developed. It has become a pillar and an example for other cooperation fields.

Defense Minister Giang highlighted the two sides’ effective implementation of cooperation fields and the signing of several important defense cooperation documents with the 2020-2022 cooperation plan as the latest.

Also at the meeting, General Giang informed that the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam and the Cuban Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces agreed to continue to effectively carry out cooperation contents on the basis of the inked agreements and other documents. Accordingly, the two sides will continue all-level delegation exchanges, complete the dossier on 60 years of Vietnam-Cuba defense ties. They will build and sign new cooperation agreements, such as the 2023-2025 cooperation plan, and a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in party and political work, and a five-year cooperation deal between the two military medical forces.

Defense Minister Giang presents a souvenir to the Cuban diplomat.

For his part, Ambassador Orlando Nicolás Hernández Guillén thanked General Giang for the reception and stressed that in the new post, he would exert efforts to contribute to developing the special traditional relationship between the two countries and militaries.

Translated by Mai Huong