Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Phạm Bình Minh addressed the meeting commemorating the 60th anniversary of Việt Nam-Cuba ties (December 2, 1960 - December 2, 2020) held on Tuesday at Hà Nội Opera House. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — The solidarity, mutual trust and closeness in the Việt Nam-Cuba friendship is “very rare” in international relations, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Phạm Bình Minh said as he addressed the meeting commemorating the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties held in Hà Nội on Tuesday.

The Vietnamese official said Việt Nam always cherished Cuba’s support for the righteous cause of Việt Nam during its national liberation and later national building efforts, adding that no matter what circumstances, Cuba was always at the forefront of international movements in supporting Việt Nam.

“Cuba’s noble and generous gestures towards Việt Nam has been crystallised in Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s remarks when he visited the central province of Quảng Trị during the height of the war against American aggression: 'For Việt Nam, Cuba is willing to shed its blood,'" Deputy PM Minh noted.

Together with political and diplomatic support, Cuba had sent thousands of engineers, doctors and experts to Việt Nam, provided to Việt Nam equipment, machinery, food items, medicines and other valuable items as aid during the war and later periods, despite the fact that Cuba at the time was also facing numerous hardships, Minh said.

Cuba has also helped build farms, factories, schools, and hospitals, and helped train thousands of Vietnamese students.

Minh stressed that Việt Nam has for its part always accompanied Cuba in its particularly difficult period starting 2011 when Cuba started to update its socio-economic model, sharing in earnest Việt Nam’s experience in its reform efforts, maintaining stable supplies of rice aid to Cuba, helping Cuba to implement several projects in food production, seafood processing, and other practical cooperation projects.

"The Vietnamese people always demonstrated solidarity and support for Cuban comrades and people, as shown via political movements and donation drives carried out by Vietnamese organisations,” Minh said.

He reaffirmed that Việt Nam continues to regard Cuba as a trusted and important partner.

The two sides have built profound and expansive relations from the Party, Government, and National Assembly level, down to local administrations and socio-political organisations.

“Việt Nam and Cuba are committed to implement high-level agreements, continuing to deepen bilateral ties, elevating economic and trade relations to match the potentials and to be commensurate to the close political ties, for the national building efforts in each country, and for peace, stability, cooperation, development in the two regions and in the world,” Minh said.

At the ceremony, guests – including high-ranking members of the Vietnamese Government, students from universities in Hà Nội, businesses who have projects in Cuba, and Cuban diplomats, students, and experts – have recounted the special traditional solidarity between Cuban and Vietnamese people, stressing that despite the geographical distance, this friendship has become a vivid symbol of international unity between peoples in the righteous struggle for independence, freedom, sovereignty, and self-determination.

Cuban Ambassador to Việt Nam Lianys Torres Rivera. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

Cuban Ambassador to Việt Nam Lianys Torres Rivera affirmed that the special relationship between Việt Nam and Cuba was born in the most difficult of times, but the two countries’ Communist parties, Governments and peoples have always had each other’s back.

This was recently demonstrated in the COVID-19 pandemic, when Cuba received timely support in terms of material and medical equipment from Việt Nam to support the “island of freedom” in its fight against the pandemic, as the Cuban economy is already facing many difficulties due to the impacts of the US embargo policy for more than half a century, she said. — VNS

Art performance in the meeting commemorating the 60th anniversary of Việt Nam-Cuba diplomatic relations on Tuesday at Hà Nội Opera House. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang