Meeting seeks increasing Vietnamese investment in Cuba

Addressing the event, Minh emphasised that despite a negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, several Vietnamese businesses such as Viglacera Corporation and Thai Binh Company have maintained their investment projects in Cuba to meet the needs of its people.

During a recent Cuba visit by Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, City Real Estate Investment Company Limited (Cityland) and Thai Binh Company signed cooperative agreements with Cuban partners to invest in projects to develop hotels, resorts, as well as green energy development projects there.

Deputy Minister Minh pointed out that relevant Cuban ministries have created favourable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to be involved in undertaking their projects in the country.

The application of the one-stop-shop mechanism in Zed Mariel Special Development Zone has also served to provide transparent information and offers preferential tariff to investors, he added.

However, Minh said Vietnamese enterprises are also facing some difficulties related to labour policy, wages, supply of raw materials, fuel, electricity and water supply, that affect their operations. He suggested that the Cuban side consider appropriate solutions to promptly remove difficulties and help enterprises feel secure in production.

For his part, Cuban Deputy Minister Saavedra stressed President Phuc’s recent visit has provided the basis for accelerating future investment cooperation between the two countries’ business communities.

She hailed Viglacera  and Thai Binh companies’ investment projects as success stories in Cuba, noting Vietnamese invested projects have helped cater to local consumer tastes and at the same time attract foreign investment in Cuba.

Saavedra outlined that the Cuban Government has issued a number of preferential policies related to tax payment, highly-qualified human resources, and science and technology aimed at attracting foreign investment.

The Cuban Deputy Minister went on to reveal that Cuba will organise a business forum to promote trade and investment cooperation in the near future.

She expressed his wish that Vietnamese enterprises will increase investment in Cuba in the future across multiple fields, such as industry, industrial parks development, construction, transportation, agriculture, food processing, renewable energy, and tourism.