Ho Chi Minh City and Santiago de Cuba province connect for economic cooperation

On September 27, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Duong Ngoc Hai received a delegation from the Government of Santiago de Cuba Province (Cuba) led by Deputy Governor Waldis Gonzalez Peinado, who is visiting and working in the City within the framework of the Friendship Dialogue and Ho Chi Minh City Economic Forum 2024.

Photo caption — Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Duong Ngoc Hai received Deputy Governor of Santiago de Cuba province Waldis Gonzalez Peinado.

Pleased to welcome the delegation, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Duong Ngoc Hai said that the City highly values and has an active cooperative relationship with the government and localities of Cuba, especially in the fields of education, health, trade, people-to-people exchange, etc. Regarding trade, as of August 2024, the total import-export turnover between the City and localities in Cuba reached nearly 8 million USD. The two sides regularly organize delegation exchanges at all levels. According to Mr. Duong Ngoc Hai, Ho Chi Minh City is a regional connection center and an international trade hub with Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Cat Lai Port, the largest in the country. It is known that Santiago de Cuba is the second largest province of Cuba, with strengths in agriculture , industry, tourism and culture. Santiago de Cuba's seaport plays an important role in international trade, being the gateway connecting Cuba with the world. Therefore, the two localities have many similarities in potential, strengths and development needs.

In 2007, Ho Chi Minh City and the Government of Santiago de Cuba Province signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote friendly and cooperative relations. However, to date, the cooperation has not been implemented. Therefore, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Duong Ngoc Hai proposed that the two sides resume exchanges and move towards signing a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a new friendly and cooperative relationship, which clearly states priority areas and proposes specific cooperation programs.

Thanking the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City for inviting and facilitating the participation in events in the city, Deputy Governor of Santiago de Cuba Waldis Gonzalez Peinado said that this trip helped the delegation learn a lot of practical experience. Thereby, Santiago de Cuba has a lot of potential to cooperate with Ho Chi Minh City. Santiago de Cuba province has an important strategic position, not only for Cuba but also for the Caribbean region. This is an industrial center with important industries, with factories producing agriculture, metallurgy, oil refining, medical supplies, etc. Therefore, Santiago de Cuba and Ho Chi Minh City have many similarities in potential and strengths for cooperation.

Affirming his readiness to restart the previous cooperation memorandum, Deputy Governor Waldis Gonzalez Peinado said that the two sides need to quickly sign specific cooperation contents, implement quickly and drastically, grasp common points and potentials to soon put cooperation into practice. He hopes that Ho Chi Minh City will have a delegation to participate in the 2025 Caribbean Expo in Cuba; at the same time, connect more provinces and cities in the southern region of Vietnam to visit Santiago de Cuba to explore cooperation opportunities.

Baotintuc.vn

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/tp-ho-chi-minh-va-tinh-santiago-de-cuba-ket-noi-hop-tac-kinh-te-20240927160350912.htm