Vietnam's Vice President, Nguyen Thi Doan, awarded today Cuba's ambassador, Fredesman Turro, with the Order Friendship of the State, for his outstanding contributions to the promotion, consolidation, and development of ties between this country and others.
When presenting the reasons for the presidential order, Deputy Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc recalled that the Cuban diplomat arrived in Vietnam in 1968, at age 19, to study Vietnamese language, and accompanied this people in their struggle for the defense of homeland, and during the post-war reconstruction and renovation work for development.
With several missions to his credit here totaling more than two decades, Turro exceptionally receives the Order for the second time after 2004 when, as in this occasion, was leaving as ambassador in this capital.
Kim Ngoc called him in his speech "big brother Hung", a name the Vietnamese friends use to whom they consider a close family, which has become an important part of the bridge linking paties, states and peoples from both countries, by promoting mutual understanding, cooperation, and fraternal solidarity.
On the other hand, Turro said he received the Order as an expression of the indestructible ties between Vietnam and Cuba, in the common purpose of building a just and equitable society, thereby contributing to peace and stability in their respective regions and the world.
He described as valuable lessons his experiences during the hard years of struggle for the independence and reunification of the country, and having been witness of the courage and intelligence of the Vietnamese people during that stage of its history, and then in the renewal process .