Vietnamese president will travel to Cuba
President Truong Tan Sang of Vietnam (photo at top) will travel to Cuba from New York City next week, Sept. 28-30, after participating in the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development, the Cuban media announced.
His visit coincides with the celebration of the 55th year of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Cuba, on Dec. 2, 1960.
Last Friday (Sept. 18) the Cuban minister of Finance and Prices, Lina Pedraza RodrÌguez, visited Hanoi, where she met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
According to the newspaper Vietnam News, Pedraza “thanked Vietnam for effective cooperation and support and noted that a five-year cooperation agreement inked between the two finance ministries during her visit would help improve their relationship.”
On Sept. 9, President Sang hosted a reception in Hanoi for foreign delegates to the 7th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference for Solidarity with Cuba. He stressed that the conference was being held in the context of Cuba’s successes in foreign relations, including the resumption of diplomatic ties with the United States and the mutual reopening of embassies.
Sang said that the event would once again demand an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba and call for continued support for the island.
As reported by Vietnam News, the president “affirmed Vietnam’s consistent solidarity and support for Cuba’s fight for justice, and said that he was convinced that Cuba would make many more achievements moving forward.”
More than 250 delegates from 18 Asia-Pacific countries gathered in Hanoi on that occasion “to discuss the role of friendship and solidarity organizations with Cuba, ultimately to remove the U.S. trade embargo and enhance solidarity with the island nation.”
Kenia Serrano Puig, president of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the People, told the gathering that the event illustrated “the solidarity, historical friendship and comprehensive cooperation that Cuba has enjoyed with Vietnam over the past 55 years.”
According to an article in the newspaper Thanh Nien News, published shortly after the announcement by presidents Obama and Castro that relations would be reestablished, Vietnamese economists are urging their government to expand its business presence in Cuba.
Nguyen Mai, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises, was quoted as saying that “Vietnam could use Cuba as a manufacturing base for its major exports to the U.S., to save on transportation costs and capitalize on more competitive prices.”
Nguyen Thanh Lam, chairman of the VietEuro Export Co., also said that Vietnam should look at Cuba as a springboard to the U.S. and Central American markets.
[For more in Progreso Weekly on Vietnam-Cuba relations, click here and here.]
