thursday night
22nd February 2003, 23:48
Here (http://granma.cu/ingles/feb03/vier21/8inicia.html) for the full story and some excellent photos, one of them is great: Vietnammese children waving Cuban and their native country's flags. Really cute and makes you (although there aren't many here) proud to be a Marxist-Leninist.
President Fidel Castro begins official
visit to Vietnam
HANOI (PL).- Cuban President Fidel Castro arrived today, Friday (February 21) in Hanoi, at 20:35 local time.
Deputy Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung and other
Vietnamese leaders welcomed
the Cuban president.
Crowds waving the flags of both
countries greeted the
Cuba leader on his arrival.
First thing tomorrow morning he begins his third official visit to the Indochina nation, at the invitation of the three main Vietnamese leaders.
At 9:00 am local time tomorrow, General Secretary of the Communist Party (PCV) Nong Duc Manh, President Trang Duc Luong and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will receive the leader of the Cuban Revolution at a formal ceremony in the gardens of the Presidential Palace in Ba Dinh Square.
After the protocol ceremony, the Cuban leader will hold talks with the country’s three leading officials inside the palace – an ancient, picturesque building formerly the headquarters of the French governor of Indochina until the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was founded on September 2, 1945.
First deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung plus other Vietnamese officials welcomed the Cuban president on his arrival on the runway at Noi Bai airport, some 35 kilometers from the capital city.
Fidel Castro’s first visit to Vietnam took place from September 12-17, 1973, when he became the only head of state to have toured the liberated zones of central Vietnam, in the vicinity of the 17th parallel – previously the southern border controlled by Saigon’s puppet regime.
The Cuban leader returned to Hanoi on December 8-11, 1995 en route from China, visiting Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) for the first time.
On that occasion he visited the famous Cu Chi tunnel complex, where southern freedom fighters held Saigon soldiers and U.S. marines in check.
As part of his schedule, on Tuesday Fidel Castro will meet with Nguyen Van An, president of the National Assembly (the Vietnamese single-chamber parliament).
Separate meetings on the same day are planned with former leaders of the PCV, Do Muoi and Le Kha Phieu; former president Le Duc Anh; former premier Vo Van Kiet and legendary retired general, 92-year old Vo Nguyen Glap.
Other member of the Cuban delegation include Minister for Communications Ignacio González Plana; Osvaldo Martínez, president of the Cuban Parliament Economic Commission; and Fredesman Turro, Cuban ambassador to Vietnam.
President Fidel Castro begins official
visit to Vietnam
HANOI (PL).- Cuban President Fidel Castro arrived today, Friday (February 21) in Hanoi, at 20:35 local time.
Deputy Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung and other
Vietnamese leaders welcomed
the Cuban president.
Crowds waving the flags of both
countries greeted the
Cuba leader on his arrival.
First thing tomorrow morning he begins his third official visit to the Indochina nation, at the invitation of the three main Vietnamese leaders.
At 9:00 am local time tomorrow, General Secretary of the Communist Party (PCV) Nong Duc Manh, President Trang Duc Luong and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will receive the leader of the Cuban Revolution at a formal ceremony in the gardens of the Presidential Palace in Ba Dinh Square.
After the protocol ceremony, the Cuban leader will hold talks with the country’s three leading officials inside the palace – an ancient, picturesque building formerly the headquarters of the French governor of Indochina until the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was founded on September 2, 1945.
First deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung plus other Vietnamese officials welcomed the Cuban president on his arrival on the runway at Noi Bai airport, some 35 kilometers from the capital city.
Fidel Castro’s first visit to Vietnam took place from September 12-17, 1973, when he became the only head of state to have toured the liberated zones of central Vietnam, in the vicinity of the 17th parallel – previously the southern border controlled by Saigon’s puppet regime.
The Cuban leader returned to Hanoi on December 8-11, 1995 en route from China, visiting Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) for the first time.
On that occasion he visited the famous Cu Chi tunnel complex, where southern freedom fighters held Saigon soldiers and U.S. marines in check.
As part of his schedule, on Tuesday Fidel Castro will meet with Nguyen Van An, president of the National Assembly (the Vietnamese single-chamber parliament).
Separate meetings on the same day are planned with former leaders of the PCV, Do Muoi and Le Kha Phieu; former president Le Duc Anh; former premier Vo Van Kiet and legendary retired general, 92-year old Vo Nguyen Glap.
Other member of the Cuban delegation include Minister for Communications Ignacio González Plana; Osvaldo Martínez, president of the Cuban Parliament Economic Commission; and Fredesman Turro, Cuban ambassador to Vietnam.