Hanoi praises Castro "building and protecting" Cuba
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam, a staunch ally of fellow-communist Cuba, praised Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Tuesday after he resigned as president for "building and protecting" his country.
"To leaders and the people of Vietnam, President Fidel is forever a great friend, a dear comrade and a brother," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Le Dung said in a statement.
While both countries are Communist Party ruled and suffered U.S. trade embargoes, Washington lifted its sanctions on Hanoi and normalized relations 13 years ago, boosting market-oriented economic reforms.
The Vietnam spokesman's statement said Castro made an "extremely great contribution to the cause of building and protecting Cuba over nearly the past five decades".
Last October Vietnam, the world's second-largest exporter of rice, donated 3,000 tons of rice to Cuba as a gift.
Cuba remains under U.S. embargo while Vietnam is a member of the World Trade Organisation, enjoys record foreign investment and economic expansion of more than 8 percent a year that has helped reduce poverty.
But Hanoi and Havana display a fraternal bond, sometimes using revolutionary language in their statements during official visits.
"Vietnam protests and condemns the unjust imperialist embargo against Cuba and believes that the courageous and indomitable Cuban people will be victorious," Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh was quoted as saying by state-run Voice of Vietnam Radio in November during a visit by Cuban Minister of Basic Industry Yadira Garcia Vera.
Manh visited Cuba last June and met Castro. The leader and his brother Raul accepted invitations to Vietnam, the official media reported, but those visits have not yet been scheduled.
Days after Manh's visit, Castro appeared in his first TV interview since falling ill in 2006, making no mention then of whether he would return to govern.
In the pre-recorded interview, Castro discussed Vietnam and read a list of statistics on energy consumption, education and public health in the Southeast Asian country of 85 million.
Cuba and Vietnam, both intolerant of challenges to one-party rule by dissidents calling for a multi-party political system, are among a handful of Communist-ruled countries. The others are China, North Korea and Laos.
(Reporting by Grant McCool and Ho Binh Minh; Editing by Jerry Norton)
