NA Chairman’s visit to Cuba holds great significance: ambassador

NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (R) meets with Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz during the latter's official visit to Vietnam in September 2022. (Photo: VNA)

The coming official visit to Cuba by National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue holds great significance as it will help further strengthen the two countries’ relations in multiple spheres as well as the ties between the two parliaments, said Cuba Ambassador to Vietnam Orlando Nicolás Hernández Guillén.

The trip from April 18, to be made at the invitation of President of the National Assembly of the People’s Power of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernández, takes place on the threshold of the 50th anniversary of Cuban leader Fidel Castro's visit to the liberated zone in South Vietnam in Quang Tri province in September 1973 and 60 years since the establishment of the Cuban Committee for Solidarity with South Vietnam (September 25, 1963).

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency, Ambassador Hernández Guillén stressed that Fidel Castro was the first and only foreign leader to do so.

Fidel Castro, then First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba's Central Committee and Prime Minister of Cuba, holds the flag of the Khe Sanh Corps of the Tri Thien - Hue liberation troops when visiting Quang Tri province on September 15, 1973. (Photo: VNA)

The Cuban leader’s presence in Quang Tri, located in the frontline between North and South Vietnam then, just a few months after the Paris Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam was signed in January 1973, and his immortal remark “For Vietnam, Cuba is willing to shed its blood” became symbols of the close-knit and faithful solidarity and fraternity of the two peoples for the sake of peace, national independence, democracy, and progress in the world.

Chairman Hue is scheduled to deliver a speech at the Cuban parliament on April 19, which will coincide with the anniversary of Cuba’s Giron Victory (April 19, 1961) and the opening of the 10th-tenure Cuban parliament’s first session after the parliamentary elections on March 26. It will a historical event only occurring because it is the Vietnam - Cuba relationship and bilateral ties are extremely special, according to the diplomat.

The two countries boast fraternity, solidarity, and consistent mutual support during the struggle for independence, sovereignty safeguarding, and development, he noted, elaborating that Cuba supported Vietnam’s fight for national liberation, and when it is facing difficulties at present, Vietnam has also given assistance to and shown its solidarity with the Cuban people.

Cuba Ambassador to Vietnam Orlando Nicolás Hernández Guillén in an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency (Photo: VNA)

Cuba and Vietnam have many cooperation fields of economic complementarity. The Southeast Asian nation has supplied a number of essential commodities, especially rice, along with many technological products for Cuba, helping the Latin American country guarantee food security and stabilise equipment supply. Meanwhile, Cuba also produces many world-famous products, including traditional ones like cigar and rum and products of the genetic, biological, and pharmaceutical technologies, Hernández Guillén went on.

Talking about parliamentary cooperation, he noted the two legislative bodies boast long-standing and extensive relations, via which Vietnam can boost sharing development experience with Cuba.

During Chairman Hue’s visit, the two sides will also discuss many cooperation areas and sign a number of important agreements, the diplomat added./.