Cuban Ambassador praises Vietnam’s spirit of solidarity

Cuban Ambassador to Vietnam Orlando Nicolás Hernández Guillén (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi – Cuban Ambassador to Vietnam Orlando Nicolás Hernández Guillén has praised the solidarity and valuable support of the Vietnamese Party, State, Government and people to Cuba during hard times.

Cuba always attaches importance to the special, traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Vietnam, the ambassador told a meeting with reporters held by the Cuban Embassy in Hanoi on July 21.

Hernández Guillén said Cuba is in the most difficult period in 60 years due to the impact of economic embargo and COVID-19. However, the situation has been put under control.

He accused foreign hostile forces of taking advantages of the present difficulties in Cuba to incite violence and illegal acts, and condemned social media campaigns that aim to defame and distort the situation in the Caribbean nation.

Such social media campaigns against Cuba took place in the context of the economic blockade adversely impacting the Cuban economy, cutting its revenue from goods and service exports and hindering the country’s access to medical materials and supplies given the complex developments of the pandemic, thus severely affecting people’s daily activities, according to the ambassador.

Against the backdrop, the Cuban Government has made efforts to protect people’s lives through effective health measures, helping to keep the rate of fatalities caused by the coronavirus at 0.66 percent against the world’s average of 2.15 percent and Latin America’s 2.61 percent, Hernández Guillén stressed.

He said Cuba has approved the emergency use of its home-grown Abdala vaccine which has proven 92.28 percent effective against COVID-19.

Besides, the country is developing four other vaccines, using domestic sources, of which Soberana has completed its phase III clinical trials with 91,2 percent efficacy. Other vaccines have also entered clinical trials.

On this occasion, the ambassador proposed priorities to strengthen the special friendship, solidarity and mutual trust between the two Parties, States and peoples of Cuba and Vietnam, and talked about bilateral collaboration in vaccine supply and the transfer of vaccine production technology.

He pledged efforts to boost the friendship and cooperation in the areas of both sides’ strength.