Hanoi, September 9 (RHC)--Vietnam and Cuba are reviewing  their economic-commercial and cooperative relations, with the intention of strengthening them.

The assessment is part of the  37th Session of the Intergovernmental Commission being held in Hanoi that is meeting at expert level on Monday.

Al the highr level, scheduled from Tuesday through Thursday, the Cuban delegation will be headed  by Rodrigo Malmierca, Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, and Pham Hong Ha, Vietnam’s construction head of the Construction minister.

Negotiations are being conducted by commissions, one covering industry, commerce, construction, banking and finance, investments, transportation, communication, education, culture, sports and tourism; another is devoted to  agriculture and fishing; and a third one, to science, technology, biotechnology and health.

The Intergovernmental meeting will conclude with the signing by Malmierca and Hong Ha of a protocol with the decisions adopted to  to strengthen relations in the short term.

Vietnam is Cuba’s second largest trading partner in Asia and Oceania and the tenth in the world.

Bilateral exchanges are around 300 million dollars, but both governments have voiced their willingness them to raise them to 500 million in the short term. Currently, more than a hundred Vietnamese companies do business with Cuba.