MÉRIDA, Mexico -. Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel praised this Friday the free market reforms carried out by Vietnam, which he said are the “demonstration of how a better society is built.”
Cuba sees with “admiration” and “joy” the “economic successes” of Vietnam, said Díaz-Canel. in statements collected by EFE and? has been ignored by the official pressreferring to Doi Moi, the liberal reform program that Vietnam implemented in 1986.
While his government puts brakes on private initiative on the Island, the president clarified that the reforms must be adopted “always in accordance with the characteristics of each country.”
Díaz-Canel’s statements took place during a formal event at the Hotel Nacional with his Vietnamese counterpart, To Lam, who completed his last day of his official visit to the island on Friday.
To Lam, who arrived in Havana on Wednesday, provoked the public reappearance of General Raúl Castro and signed various bilateral agreements on health and agriculture, as well as a plan to produce rice in Cuba with Vietnamese help.
According to EFE, Vietnam is the second largest trading partner and the main Asia-Pacific investor in the island with a trade exchange in 2023 that reached 340 million dollars.
In addition to being one of the main suppliers of rice, it routinely sends tons of the cereal as donations.
In October 2023, he sent a donation of 1,200 metric tons of rice on behalf of the Communist Party, the State and the people of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. That same year, in April, he donated another 2,000 tons.
