Top legislator hosts new Cuban, Spanish Ambassadors

Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan hosted receptions for the newly-accredited Ambassadors of Cuba and Spain inVietnam, in Hanoi, on December 26.

Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) welcomes Cuban Ambassador to Vietnam Lianys Torres Rivera (Photo VNA)

Meeting with Cuban Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera, Ngan said the political ties between Vietnam and Cuba have been increasingly reinforced over recent years thanks to the maintenance of all-level delegation exchanges, especially among high-ranking Party, State, and parliament officials.

She added that the official Vietnam visit of Chairman of the Cuban National Assembly Esteban Lazo Hernandez in June 2017 helped to tighten the solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Cuba.

In 2018, Vietnam and Cuba will celebrate the 45th anniversary of the historical visit of Cuban leader Fidel Castro – a big friend of the Vietnamese people - to Quang Tri which was newly liberated in the war in 1973, she noted.

The fourth theoretical workshop between the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Communist Party of Cuba will take place the same year, she said, adding that the two countries will continue exchanging parliamentary activities.

The senior legislator suggested increasing the exchanges between the Party, legislative, executive and judicial agencies to further deepen the bilateral cooperative rapports.

The Cuban Ambassador thanked Vietnam for sending experts to share their experience in several fields in Cuba and support the Cuban people in responding to the consequences caused by natural disasters in 2017, in the context that Vietnam also encountered difficulties due to floods.

At a meeting with Spanish Ambassador Maria Jesus Figa Lopez – Palop, Chairwoman Ngan expressed her pleasure at the elevation of the Vietnam-Spain cooperative relations to a “strategic partnership towards the future”.

Spain is the first country in Western Europe to lift its cooperation with Vietnam to the strategic level, she said, adding that the delegation exchanges at all levels have been maintained.

She thanked Spain for ratifying the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between Vietnam and the EU and hopes that the country, and particularly the Spanish parliament, would continue supporting Vietnam to reach the official signing of the Vietnam-EU free trade agreement, which will open up new opportunities for the two sides to promote trade, economic and investment relations and comprehensive cooperation across all fields.

The Chairwoman hopes that Spain would support Vietnam in becoming a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2010-2021 tenure.

She asked the new Spanish Ambassador to actively work to promote the two countries’ legislative bodies within the bilateral cooperation framework and at multilateral parliamentary forums, such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership (ASEP).

The Spanish Ambassador pledged to work closely with the relevant Vietnamese agencies to develop the two countries’ cooperation in economics, trade, tourism, investment and infrastructure improvement.

She noted that two-way trade hit US$ 2.9 billion in 2016, which is expected to be maintained in 2017. Spain is currently running 35 investment projects in Vietnam, she added.

(Source: NDO)