Fifty-nine years after the establishment of relations between Cuba and Vietnam, the ties between the two Parties, States, governments and peoples are at an excellent moment. Have reached maturity, passing the tests of time and acquiring a strategic dimension. Cuba attaches high priority and gives special status to its relations with Vietnam. Mutual trust, mutual benefit, exchange of experience, and broad convergence on global issues are the foundations of our bilateral relations.

Cuba and Vietnam are countries that move together on the path of building socialism with their own characteristics, and support each other on issues related to their respective national interests. Our development models complement each other, and share similar goals: ensure the sustainability of the development and irreversibility of socialism in both countries.

The year 2018 undoubtedly marked an outstanding milestone in our bilateral ties: the celebration in Vietnam of the 45th anniversary of the first visit to Vietnam of the historical leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, and his epic journey through the liberated areas of South Vietnam, still in the midst of the war.

Visit to Cuba was also highlighted in 2018 by the Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Trong, and to Vietnam by the Cuban President, Miguel Díaz Canel Bermudez, in November, events that ratified the high level of identification and openness between our two countries.

Relations between the two Parties are a fundamental pillar of bilateral ties, because they embody the feelings of our respective peoples. Both Parties deepen concepts and visions on building socialism in the two countries, through the biannual celebration of Theoretical Seminars, mechanism for the exchange of common elements tailored to our practical experiences, which can be useful to both political processes and economic models.

Cuba and Vietnam have many things in common. As the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution once said, we could write a book about parallelism in history between Vietnam and Cuba. By the coincidences of life, Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the Vietnamese nation was born on May 19, 1890, and 5 years later, in 1895, on May 19, Cuba’s national hero, José Martí, fell in combat. Marti was the first Cuban who taught our people about Vietnam through a beautiful story he published in 1889 entitled “A walk through the land of the Anamites”. This is only one of the most notable, among the many events that have intertwined history between our two countries, the history that was clearly marked by the imprint of Fidel and Ho Chi Minh.

Like Vietnam did 30 years ago, with the beginning of its Renovation process, the path that Cuba has traveled since the 6th Congress of the PCC in 2011, when we approved the Guidelines of the economic and social policy of the Cuban Revolution, has not been easy, nor free of misunderstandings inside and outside the country.

As was the case in Vietnam at the time, our decisions are the result of the accumulated experience, and also, the result of the successes and mistakes of a Revolution besieged for more than 50 years by the most powerful power on the planet, but they are, above all, the conviction that the prosperous and sustainable socialism to which we aspire will only be possible by preserving the values forged by the Revolution. In line with this idea, we have the challenge of increasing the productivity of work so that we can distribute precisely the wealth created and raise the level and quality of life of Cubans, as well as achieve their collective and individual aspirations.

Cuba continues to fight for the well-being of its people, amid the difficulties caused by the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States for almost six decades, that has overstepped all limits in the violation of international law and extraterritoriality, with the new measures to prevent the entry of fuel into Cuba. But the indisputable social advances of the Cuban Revolution transcend national borders, and reach any corner of the world where a doctor is needed to save someone from death, or a teacher to save others from ignorance.

From its cradle, the Cuban Revolution was defined by that internationalist vocation, which has also printed in its foreign policy, by promoting fraternity among peoples. And I think at this moment on the great contribution that Cuba and Vietnam have made to the world, by demonstrating for six decades what a true brotherhood relationship can achieve, as an exemplary reference for international relations, and demonstrate, in the midst of a global scenario with serious threats to peace, that fraternity and harmony are the best options for solving the challenges facing humanity.

Nancy Coro Aguiar

First Secretary of Cuban Embassy