Rice programme a significant part of relations with Cuba
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Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung receives Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmiecra Diaz in Ha Noi yesterday. — VNA/VNS Photo Doan Tan |
HA NOI — Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has reiterated Viet Nam's commitment to prioritising the rice production co-operation programme between Viet Nam and Cuba.
"The co-operation programme is of great significance for the bilateral friendship," he said.
Dung made the statement yesterday while receiving Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmiecra Diaz.
He asked Cuba to continue creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to invest in the Caribbean nation and to encourage more Cuban investment in Viet Nam.
Two-way trade value, which reached US$250 million last year, was expected to increase further.
The Cuban minister is also the head of the Cuban delegation to the 29th meeting of the Viet Nam-Cuba inter-governmental committee which was held in the capital yesterday.
Minister of Construction Tran Dinh Dung, co-chairman of the committee, said the key objective of this meeting was to discuss and agree on what areas the two parties should focus on in their co-operation, and what measures should be taken to make the co-operation more fruitful, particularly the rice production co-operation programme.
Regarding trade relations, Minister Dung asked the two parties to come up with solutions to settle outstanding debt and to promote bilateral trade relations.
He asked the Cuban Government to speed up the permit process for the Vietcombank to open a branch in Cuba.
"The presence of the bank will help facilitate the financial settlement between Vietnamese and Cuban companies and enable Vietnamese investors to invest in Cuba, particularly in the fields of construction, oil and gas, and trade," he said.
Cuban Minister Diaz said he wanted the two sides to come up with a strategy for development co-operation, economic relations and trade promotion in the time to come.
He said the driving force for bilateral co-operation between the two countries in the mid term was economic development.
Diaz wished that Viet Nam would continue to sell more rice to Cuba in the years to come. He also committed to gradually reducing the credit debts to Vinafood – the key Vietnamese rice exporter to Cuba.
On behalf of the Cuban Government, Minister Diaz pledged to honour its financial commitments with Viet Nam.
Agricultural projects supported by Viet Nam had played a very important role in Cuba, he said. Meanwhile, Cuba wanted to share Viet Nam's success in biology and pharmaceuticals and to introduce new Cuban medicines to the Vietnamese market. — VNS