Naidu seeks to deepen India’s ties with Afghanistan, Vietnam, Cuba & Venezuela

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : The Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu interacted with the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Dr. Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, his Vietnamese counterpart Ms. Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh, President of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermudez, and the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro Moros on the sidelines of the XVIII NAM Summit at Baku, Azerbaijan.

During his interaction with the four dignitaries, Naidu stressed the need to further deepen India’s close relations with Afghanistan, Vietnam, Cuba, and Venezuela in all spheres.

In his talks with Dr. Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, the Vice President emphasised that India and Afghanistan enjoyed close and friendly relations and added that people-to-people exchanges provided strong foundation to the strategic partnership between the two nations. He stressed that India wished to see a stable, secure, united, inclusive and prosperous Afghanistan. Referring to the bilateral trade which is more than USD 1.1 billion, Naidu said that there was immense potential for growth. Congratulating Afghanistan for the successful conduct of the elections, Naidu expressed the hope that the outcomes of these elections would promote unity, stability and peace in Afghanistan.

The Vice President also met with Ms Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh, Vice President of Vietnam on the sidelines of NAM Summit & Ministerial Meeting at Baku on October 26, 2019. Naidu spoke of the two millennia-old civilisational relationship and the historical bond of trust and friendship shared by the two nations. Referring to his participation in the 16th UN Day of Vesak Celebrations at Vietnam in May 2019, he conveyed his heartfelt gratitude to the warm hospitality accorded to him in Vietnam.

He expressed his happiness at the flourishing Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries with significant defence and security cooperation, economic engagement, trade and investments, cultural and people-to-people interactions. Naidu observed that Vietnam, which will assume the chair of ASEAN in 2020, was not just a trustworthy friend but a key pillar of India’s Act East policy and a very important partner for India in the ASEAN.

During his talks with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, the Vice President pointed out that India and Cuba were founding members of the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) and that the two countries must continue to advocate the NAM principles such as the sovereign equality of all nations, unity of developing countries, South-South cooperation and development through inclusive growth.

The Vice President congratulated Cuba on the successful conduct of elections. Vice president was also appreciative of Cuba’s reform process and the constitutional changes to strengthen democracy. He also expressed his happiness at the progress across different spheres including inauguration of the new PANCHKARMA center in Havana and the operationalisation of the fertiliser plant at Cienfuegos. He also appreciated the remarkable strides made by Cuba in the field of biotechnology and pharma. He thanked Cuba for its support to the Indian position on Jammu and Kashmir at the UNHRC meeting in Geneva last month.

He also expressed his gratitude to Cuba for full-fledged participation in the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. “We appreciate the launch of the commemorative postal stamps by Coreos de Cuba and the planting of 150 trees at the Botanical Garden of Havana (Cuba),” he added.  Naidu also congratulated the President on the grand celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the iconic capital of Cuba, Havana.