Attending the talks were: Lieutenant General Trinh Van Quyet, Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Deputy Head of the General Political Department of the Vietnam People's Army; General Phung Si Tan, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army...

General Phan Van Giang and members of the Vietnamese delegation at the talks. Photo: Tuan Huy

General Álvaro López Miera and members of the Cuban delegation at the talks. Photo: Tuan Huy

General Phan Van Giang warmly welcomed Lieutenant General Álvaro López Miera and his delegation on their official visit to Vietnam. General Phan Van Giang highly appreciated the significance of the delegation's visit as the two countries are looking forward to commemorating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Cuban Committee for Solidarity with South Vietnam (September 1963) - the predecessor of the Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association, and the 50th anniversary of leader Fidel Castro's first visit to Vietnam and his trip to the liberated zone of South Vietnam in Quang Tri (September 1973).

General Phan Van Giang affirmed that, over the past 60 years, the special friendship between Vietnam and Cuba has been continuously strengthened and developed in the spirit of close brotherhood, becoming an exemplary and symbolic relationship of the times. General Phan Van Giang expressed his confidence that the success of the official visit to Vietnam by Lieutenant General Álvaro López Miera will contribute to consolidating the special friendship between the two countries and their armed forces.

A view of the meeting. Photo: Tuan Huy

General Phan Van Giang shared his sympathy for the difficulties and challenges that the Cuban people are facing due to the impact of the blockade and embargo policies, and more recently, the loss of life and property caused by successive incidents and natural disasters. General Phan Van Giang affirmed that the Party, State, people, and People's Army of Vietnam will never forget the support and assistance of Cuba during the most difficult period of the national liberation struggle, as well as in the cause of building Vietnam afterwards, and will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Cuba, supporting it on its path to building and developing a beautiful and heroic Cuba.


General Phan Van Giang and Lieutenant General Álvaro López Miera signed the Cooperation Plan for the period 2023-2025. Photo: Tuan Huy

General Phan Van Giang congratulated Cuba on successfully holding the 10th National Assembly elections, emphasizing that this was a victory for the Cuban revolution, demonstrating the solidarity and unity of the Cuban people. General Phan Van Giang expressed his confidence that the fraternal country of Cuba would soon overcome all difficulties and challenges, and develop prosperously. On this occasion, General Phan Van Giang thanked the Party, State, and Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba for recognizing and awarding the prestigious medals of the Cuban State to the leaders and former leaders of the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense who have made significant contributions to the relations between the two countries and the two armies during the visit of the Political Commissar of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba to Vietnam.

General Phan Văn Giang presents a commemorative gift to Lieutenant General Álvaro López Miera. Photo: Tuấn Huy.

For his part, General Álvaro López Miera thanked General Phan Văn Giang and the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence for the warm welcome extended to the delegation; recalled his visit to Vietnam in 2019 and expressed his affection for the country and people of Vietnam. General Álvaro López Miera shared with General Phan Văn Giang the difficulties and challenges that Cuba faces; thanked Vietnam for always accompanying and supporting Cuba; emphasized the close and strong fraternal relationship between the two countries and two armies and the importance of this relationship. General Álvaro López Miera expressed his hope that in the future Cuba and Vietnam will continue to maintain and strengthen cooperation in areas where both sides have capabilities and needs, focusing on exchanges of delegations at all levels, exchanges of experts, training, preservation of historical memory, etc.; and affirmed that he will make every effort to contribute to deepening the Cuba-Vietnam relationship.

General Phan Van Giang, Lieutenant General Álvaro López Miera, and members of both delegations pose for a group photo after the talks. Photo: Tuan Huy

During the talks, both sides agreed that, in the overall relationship between the two countries, defense cooperation has always been one of the pillars and a model for promoting cooperation in other fields. Based on the signed documents and agreements, especially the Cooperation Plan for the period 2020-2022, the two sides have effectively coordinated the implementation of cooperation in many areas and achieved some outstanding results in the following fields: exchange of delegations at all levels, especially high-level delegations; Party and political work; defense industry; human resource training; dissemination of information about the special traditional friendship between the two Parties, two States, and two Armies, especially the completion of the book "History of 60 Years of Vietnam-Cuba Defense Relations"; military medicine; agriculture, etc.

Looking ahead, both sides agreed to focus on implementing cooperation in several areas: continuing to strengthen exchanges and delegations at all levels, especially high-level delegations; exchanging professional experience; exchanges of young officers from both countries; defense industry; cooperation in human resource training; military medicine; Party work, political work, etc.

At the conclusion of the talks, General Phan Van Giang and Lieutenant General Álvaro López Miera signed the Cooperation Plan for the period 2023-2025.

HOANG VU