Havana (VNA) – General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and State President To Lam met with Cuban Prime Minister Manuel ๊Marrero Cruz in Havana on September 26 afternoon (local time).

Manuel Marrero affirmed that Lam’s visit is a historical event in the relationship between the two countries. He thanked the Party, State and people of Vietnam for their close sentiments as well as valuable support and assistance to the Party, State and people of Cuba. The PM also congratulated the Party, State and people of Vietnam on their great achievements during the country’s renewal process over the past nearly 40 years, and highly evaluated its efforts in overcoming the consequences of Typhoon Yagi. For his part, Lam emphasised that the Party, State and people of Vietnam are deeply grateful for and always remember the wholehearted support of Cuban Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, generations of leaders and people of Cuba for the cause of national liberation, construction and protection of the Vietnamese people. He also thanked the Party, State and people of Cuba for supporting Vietnamese people in storm recovery efforts. The top leader expressed his respect and appreciation for the achievements that the Cuban people have made on the path to socialism amid many difficulties and challenges. Lam said he firmly believed that with the great determination and efforts, the heroic Party, State and people of Cuba will continue to overcome difficulties and challenges and gain new victories. He affirmed the consistent stance of the Party, State and people of Vietnam to unite and strongly support the just struggle of the heroic Cuba people. Lam and Manuel Marrero looked back at the cooperation between the two countries in recent times, expressing their delight that the bilateral relationship in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, and defence continues to be strengthened and grow substantial, effective, trustworthy, and sustainable. The two sides discussed in depth measures to improve the effectiveness of Vietnam - Cuba collaboration in all fields. They underlined that the two governments need to continue optimising existing cooperation mechanisms, including the intergovernmental committee on economic, sciencetific-technological cooperation, consider establishing new mechanisms and actively implement the existing agreements while expanding collaboration between ministries, agencies, and localities in various fields, in flexible forms. Highlighting that Vietnam is currently the second largest trading partner and the largest investor from Asia and Oceania in Cuba, Lam and Manuel Marrero agreed to promote and enhance the effectiveness of economic cooperation, emphasising that both sides need to continue to pay attention to agricultural collaboration projects, and explore new orientations for effective and sustainable cooperation. The Cuban PM affirmed that he will create favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to operate and contribute to the Caribbean nation’s economy. Lam suggested that both sides actively make use of the bilateral trade agreement in order to raise bilateral trade turnover to 500 million USD in the next five years. The two sides also consented to promote research and expand cooperation in agriculture and food processing, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical services, telecommunications, justice, tourism, construction, transportation, high technology, digital transformation, innovation and other fields. They agreed to continue to exchange and closely coordinate on international issues, supporting each other's legitimate interests./.