5,000 Tons Of Vietnamese Rice Arrive In Cuba / 14ymedio

Signing the record of delivery and receipt of the 5,000 tons of rice. (Twitter)
Signing the record of delivery and receipt of the 5,000 tons of rice. (Twitter)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 16 June 2016 – Rice is again a symbol of friendship between Cuba and Vietnam. The signing, this Thursday, of the record of delivery and receipt of 5,000 tons of rice donated by the Vietnamese Communist party – the State – is added to the joint agricultural programs carried out by both countries tat have allowed Cuba to reduce from 450,000 to 300,000 tons the import of this grain.

The ceremony this Thursday, which represents a gesture to underscore the friendship between Vietnam and Cuba, was attended by Rigoberto Enoa, director of Trade Policy with Asia and Oceania of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, and Pham Phan Dung, chief of of Vietnam’s National Reserve.

Phan Dung, who signed the document in front of the Vietnamese ambassador in Havana, Doung Minh stressed that this donation will allow a further strengthening of the relations of solidarity and cooperation and recalled the “eternal gratitude” of the Vietnamese people towards Cuba in its “struggle for “national liberation,” peace and building the country.

Rigoberto Enoa, after expressing appreciation for the gesture and highlighting the excellent ties of friendship between the two countries, said the rice will is for consumption by the population.

In addition, the Cuban official recalled that many Vietnamese companies are interested in investing on the island and there are already several advanced proposals. Vietnam is also has a project for the production of diapers in the Mariel Special Development Zone.

Other areas where trade relations are advancing are the development of drugs and vaccines.

Last September, President Truong Tan Sang paid a visit to Cuba to participate in a business forum. On that trip, the president said that the economic reforms undertaken to update the socialist model of the island guarantee “stable and sustained development” and allow “bilateral trade relations at the same level as the policies.”