Party leader's tour of Latin American countries lauded a success

During an interview at the end of the tour, Deputy PM Hung, who has accompanied General Secretary Manh throughout his Latin American tour, said that this is the second time General Secretary Manh has visited Cuba but his first to Chile , Brazil , Venezuela .

According to the Deputy PM, through high-level talks and meetings during the visits, people from Latin American countries expressed their admiration for the great achievements the Vietnamese people obtained in their renovation proces and said they wanted to boost friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Viet Nam.

He went on to say, "Party General Secretary Manh and the Presidents of Chile, Brazil and Venezuela were unanimous in their desire to accelerate bilateral ties between Viet Nam and these countries in a deep, stable and sustainable manner in the spirit of comprehensive cooperation, equality, mutual benefit and development, thus actively contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in Southeast Asia, Latin America and the world at large."

Deputy PM Hung noted that General Secretary Manh held important talks which lasted nearly 2 hours with President Fidel Castro and also had extensive talks with Vice President Raul Castro. The two sides agreed that Viet Nam-Cuba solidarity, which has stood the test of time, would help the two countries overcome difficulties and challenges to gain success in building and defending the two socialist regimes.

"During high-level talks, senior officials of Viet Nam and the Latin American countries reached unanimity on the need to expand and further promote economic, trade and investment ties, ensure the effectiveness of cooperation and bring into play each countries' strengths to support each other for mutual development,” Hung said. “The discussions also focused on orientations and major measures to raise economic ties to the same level with their growing political relations. During the visits, Viet Nam and the Latin American countries also defined the focal areas for bilateral cooperation, established bilateral cooperation mechanisms and signed many cooperation agreements, including agreements on oil and gas exploration and exploitation in Venezuela and Cuba , and construction of an oil refinery in Viet Nam . The governments of these countries pledged to create favourable conditions for their businesses to expand stable, long-term, equal and mutually-beneficial cooperation for sustainable development of each country," the Deputy PM.

Hung affirmed that leaders of Chile , Brazil , Venezuela and Cuba highly valued Viet Nam 's role and reiterated their support for Viet Nam 's candidacy for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council in 2008-2009. Venezuela officially recognised Viet Nam as a full market economy, and Chile and Brazil stressed that they will support Viet Nam so that the country will be recognised quickly as a country with a full market economy, the Deputy PM said.

Deputy PM Hung also emphasised another major result of the visits, i.e. strengthening solidarity and friendship between the Vietnamese Party and communist, leftist parties, and promoting relations and experience exchange between Viet Nam and the ruling parties in Latin American countries. Leaders of political parties in countries visited by General Secretary Manh all praised the Vietnamese Party's experience and Viet Nam 's achievements in the renewal process, Hung said.

"With high-level agreements reached during General Secretary Manh and his delegation's visits to Latin American countries, I believe that friendly, cooperative ties between Viet Nam and visited countries as well as Latin American countries in general will develop to a new height, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in Southeast Asia, Latin America and the world as a whole," Deputy PM Hung concluded.

Source: VNA