Cuba, Vietnam vow to boost military ties

Cuba, Vietnam vow to boost military ties
(philstar.com) Updated October 12, 2011 09:50 AM

HAVANA (Xinhua) -- A Vietnamese military delegation on Tuesday started
an official visit to Cuba as part of efforts to promote the bilateral
military relations.

"I hope that our visit will help strengthen the relations between the
two armies and the two people," said Nguyen Quoc Khanh, deputy chief of
the General Staff of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.

"We have come to widen the bonds of brotherhood and fraternity that have
united our people for years on the fundamental pillars built by historic
leaders of both our countries, Fidel Castro and Ho Chi Minh," Nguyen
said at an event in Havana.

Nguyen, who headed a large delegation of Vietnamese officials, started
the four-day visit at the mausoleum of Cacahual. They will also visit
military units, institutions and historical places.

The visit followed the one in June by Vietnam's Deputy Defense Minister
Nguyen Chi Vinh, who signed a military collaboration agreement with the
Cuban army.

Havana and Hanoi forged diplomatic relations in 1960 and have since then
signed a set of cooperation agreements on trade, agriculture,
biotechnology, construction, computers and telecommunications, tourism
and sports. The current bilateral trade is at the scale of about 500
million U.S. dollars.

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