President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc meets Prime Minister of Cuba Manuel Marrero Cruz in Hà Nội on Thursday. —VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has affirmed that Việt Nam always stands united with and supports fraternal relations with Cuba amid complicated developments in the world.

During a meeting in Hà Nội on Thursday with Prime Minister of Cuba Manuel Marrero Cruz, who is on a visit from September 28 – October 2, President Phúc conveyed the sympathy of the Vietnamese Party, State and people to Cuba over the fuel storage facility fire in Matanzas city on August 5 and the consequences of Hurricane Ian on September 27.

He also hailed the results of talks between the two Prime Ministers, which he said will contribute to consolidating bilateral ties.

PM Manuel Marrero Cruz stressed that Cuba always treasures and wishes to further deepen the special traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Việt Nam.

He expressed readiness to learn from Việt Nam’s experience in socio-economic development and global integration, as well as its response to global economic challenges.

The two leaders expressed determination to further deepen the exemplary Việt Nam-Cuba relationship founded by late Presidents Hồ Chí Minh and Fidel Castro and nurtured by generations of the two countries’ leaders and people, and agreed to intensify the education of young generations in the Việt Nam-Cuba special friendship.

They reached a consensus on promoting economic, trade and investment ties to be commensurate with the two countries' fine political relations, with a focus on agriculture, healthcare, finance-banking, and science-technology. They will also continue with consultations and mutual support at international organisations and multilateral forums, especially the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement.

Cuba always highly values the solidarity and sincere support that the Vietnamese Party, State and people have offered to the Cuban people, particularly in rice supply and food production, Cruz said.

He noted that the two countries will hold important activities marking the 50th anniversary of Gen. Fidel Castro’s historic visit to Việt Nam's southern liberation zone and the 40th anniversary of the Việt Nam - Cuba Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation this year.

Cruz expressed his belief that the close fraternal ties between Việt Nam and Cuba will enter a new development period, for the benefit of the two peoples and for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the two regions and the world. — VNS