VIETNAM, September 27 - HÀ NỘI — Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz’s upcoming official visit to Việt Nam, from September 28-October 2, aims to further strengthen the fraternal solidarity, comprehensive cooperation and mutual trust between the Party, State and people of Cuba and Việt Nam, said Vietnamese Ambassador to Cuba Lê Thanh Tùng.

The Cuban delegation is scheduled to arrive at Nội Bài's International Airport in Hà Nội in the evening of September 28.

In an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency’s correspondents in Cuba, ambassador Tùng highlighted the significance of the visit, adding that this is also an opportunity for senior leaders of the two countries to discuss and come up with specific orientations and measures to further promote the bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation.

During recent years, Party and State leaders, and people of the two countries have constantly consolidated fraternity, solidarity, comprehensive cooperation, and mutual trust, which have been reflected across the fields, he said.

Despite the COVID-19 crisis, the two sides’ Party, State, Government, and National Assembly leaders have regularly maintained exchange on measures to beef up and deepen the bilateral relations, with three phone talks between their Party chiefs in 2020 alone. Last year, President Nguyên Xuân Phúc made an official visit to Cuba.

In addition, cooperation mechanisms have been established in all channels of Party, State, Government, while ties between ministries, sectors, localities and socio-political organisations have been also maintained and proven effective, the ambassador said.

Economic, trade, and investment cooperation have seen development, especially in terms of investment, according to the ambassador. Việt Nam is now the largest investor from the Asia-Oceania region in Cuba.

The two countries have also maintained cooperation and mutual support at international and multilateral forums.

One of the main purposes of the visit by the Cuban PM is to further expand bilateral economic, trade and investment relations.

According to the ambassador, senior leaders are expected to agree on specific directions and measures to further improve the Việt Nam-Cuba Intergovernmental Committee cooperation mechanism whilst encouraging their firms to invest in mutual areas of strength, especially food processing and production, renewable energy, and tourism infrastructure.

“I hope that during the visit of the Cuban PM, the two sides can sign specific contracts and projects in the above-mentioned areas,” Tùng said.

During this visit, the two countries will also sign a joint action plan to implement the bilateral economic agenda in the 2023 - 2025 period, covering bilateral cooperation in over 10 fields, including economic bond, trade, agriculture, industry, construction, transportation, science - technology, among others, he said. — VNS