Vietnam leader flies into Cuba ahead of G77 summit HAVANA - Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong flew into Havana on Saturday for an official visit to Cuba intended to cement ties between the two socialist allies before next week's Group of 77 Summit in the Cuban capital. Luong was met at Havana's international airport by Cuban Vice President Jose Ramon Fernandez. He is due to meet Cuban officials and visit the province of Matanzas before the meeting of at least 65 heads of state from around the Third World during the South Summit from Monday to Friday. Leaders and other senior officials from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean will gather in Cuba over the coming days for the first summit of the G77 group since its founding in 1964. The group's original number of nations, 77, has now grown to 133. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was also due to arrive in Havana on Saturday for an official visit before the summit, officials said. Host President Fidel Castro will be joined by other well-known Third World personalities like Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is also expected. Despite the geographical distance between them, Vietnam and Cuba maintain good relations as two of the world's last remaining communist-ruled nations. Annual two-way trade has averaged around $175 million over the last seven years, according to Vietnamese media reports. Vietnamese exports of rice, bicycles and coal have accounted for most of this. Investment ties include two Cuban joint ventures in Vietnam, one in construction and the other, supported by British capital, in a rat-poison factory. Castro has visited Vietnam twice, in 1973 and 1995. Reuters - April 9, 2000.