(VOVworld) – Cuban President Raul Castro has concluded his official visit to Vietnam. During the visit, Castro held talks with Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong, State President Truong Tan Sang, and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. The visit reinforced the time-honored friendship between Vietnam and Cuba and brought relations between the two Parties and Government to a new stage.

Also this week, Cuban Minister of Foreign Relations Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla met with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh. Minh said Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry will closely cooperate with its Cuban counterpart to implement agreements reached by the two countries’ leaders to beef up bilateral ties. The two FMs agreed on measures to increase visits by high-ranking delegations and the exchange of senior level delegations  and social-political organizations of the two countries. They agreed to hold another political consultation late this year in Havana.

The Cuban press highlighted today the official visit to Vietnam by Cuban President Raul Castro from Sunday to Tuesday. The Granma newspaper stressed that despite great geographical distance, Vietnam and Cuba have always been brother countries and this has been reaffirmed by President Castro’s visit. The Trabajadores weekly newspaper reported activities of the Cuban delegation highlighting Vietnamese leaders’ sentiments toward Cuba. The newspaper quoted President Truong Tan Sang as saying that Vietnam received the Cuban delegation as brothers, not as foreign guests. The Cuban online newspaper Cubadebate and Cuba’s national TV posted pictures of the Cuban delegation’s stay in Vietnam.