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| Party General Secretary To Lam receives President of the National Assembly of People’s Power and President of the Council of the State of Cuba, Esteban Lazo Hernández__Photo: VNA |
Relations between Vietnam and Cuba have reached a new high, entering an era of partnership built upon a special, traditional friendship that is rare in international relations, according to Secretary of the National Assembly of the People’s Power of Cuba Homero Acosta Álvarez.
In a recent interview with the Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of the ongoing official visit to Vietnam of President of the National Assembly of People’s Power and President of the Council of the State of Cuba, Esteban Lazo Hernández, Acosta Álvarez referenced the historical relationship between the two countries. He expressed his belief that Vietnam is the only country in the world with which Cuba has maintained such comprehensive relations.
Following the visit to Cuba by Party General Secretary To Lam, the two sides have bolstered collaboration across multiple areas with new momentum, he said, noting promising domains for cooperation such as food and pharmaceutical production, biotechnology, and renewable energy.
He also pointed out that Cuba's full range of comprehensive cooperation channels and mechanisms for exchanging experiences on socialist building theory with Vietnam is rare, demonstrating that no other partnership could compare to this relationship.
Cuba admires Vietnam’s development achievements, and the Southeast Asian country is a world model for socialist construction, he underscored.
He expressed deep gratitude for Vietnam’s timely support for Cuba during the latter’s difficult time, citing aid campaigns organized by the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Red Cross Society, and other organizations that raised over 14 million USD for the Caribbean nation. He described the acts of compassion as a vivid testimony to the friendship nurtured by President Ho Chi Minh and Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro.
Touching on Lazo Hernández’s trip, he said it carries great symbolic weight, taking place in a year when Vietnam celebrates landmark anniversaries, including the 80th National Day, the 135th birth anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh, the 95th anniversary of the Communist Party’s founding, and the 65th anniversary of the Vietnam–Cuba diplomatic relations.
A key moment of his trip is the second session of the Vietnam-Cuba Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, which he emphasized as an effective, results-driven mechanism aimed at strengthening inter-parliamentary relations. Cuba maintains such a formal framework with very few countries, he said.
Established in 2023 through a memorandum of understanding, the mechanism has been completed, with discussions extending beyond legislative matters to cover major economic and trade cooperation.
At the latest session, the two sides examined the ways that the two parliaments facilitate the implementation of Government agreements, remove legal barriers, and create favorable conditions for joint projects.
Vietnam is now Cuba’s top Asian investor, with eight major projects in the Mariel Special Development Zone. In agriculture, Vietnamese-backed rice projects in Los Palacios yielded more than seven tonnes per hectare, much higher than Cuba’s previous average.
He also acknowledged ongoing challenges that need to be resolved in the coming time, such as energy, fuel, and financial-banking mechanisms.
On parliamentary cooperation, he said that both sides have maintained close ties, adding that since 2013, a high-level working delegation from the Cuban parliament has come to Vietnam to study the country’s legal reforms and constitutional changes as a reference for Cuba’s constitutional process.
Notably, when Cuba’s new National Assembly was inaugurated in 2023, a high-level Vietnamese delegation attended, with Vietnam’s top legislator addressing the opening session. He added that this is a vivid symbol of the two nations’ special and exemplary solidarity.
At international forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the two assemblies have worked closely and supported each other, with Cuba valuing Vietnam’s rising global standing and legislative innovations.- (VNA/VLLF)
