Vietnamese leader kicks off three-day visit to Cuba
|
| Published on Saturday, June 2, 2007 |
Email To Friend Print Version |
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Vietnamese leader Nong Duc Manh began a three day visit to Cuba Friday to meet with interim president Raul Castro and other officials, and possibly to sign an oil exploration agreement, officials said.
 |
| Vietnam's Communist Party Secretary General Nong Duc Manh (L), and Cuban interim President Raul Castro pose for pictures at the Revolution Palace in Havana. AFP PHOTO |
A meeting with ailing President Fidel Castro, who is recovering from gastrointestinal surgery 10 months ago, has not been ruled out during Manh's second visit to the island -- the first was in February 2004, they added.
Manh, who is secretary general of the Vietnamese Communist Party, will also meet with Vice President Carlos Lage, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and other top government officials.
The official agenda for Manh's visit states he will be signing a series of agreements with Cuba.
Officials have not given details, but one of the deals is is expected to deal with oil exploration in Cuban waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
State-run oil concerns in both countries, Cupet and Petrovietnam, have been negotiating an exploration deal in that region for months, officials said.
On his arrival at Havana's presidential palace, Manh stressed that one of his objectives during the visit was to put Cuba-Vietnam economic relations on an equal footing with their good political relations.
"It is important that we expand and diversify business, trade and investment cooperation" between the two countries, he told Cuba's state-run Prensa Latina.
Trade between Vietnam and Cuba in 2005, according to the most recent Cuban figures, stood at 252.3 million dollars, most of which (251.3 million) was in Vietnamese goods.
With Cuba, Manh wraps up a tour of Latin America that began on May 25 and included Chile, Brazil and Venezuela.
|
|
