Vietnamese businesses gained insights into investment opportunities in Cuba during a seminar in Hanoi on September 4, which introduced the Latin American country’s latest policies and incentives.

Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz presented his country’s new investment law and associated policies to attract foreign investments in the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM).

Yanet Vazquez Valdes, Deputy Director of the ZEDM Office, said the zone, which is located in the port town of Mariel to the west of the capital, Havana, is conveniently located for the transportation of goods, and possesses a highly skilled workforce and comprehensive infrastructure system.

Investors will benefit from the zone’s effective administrative system and an array of tax incentives. For example, investors will be exempted from personal income tax on dividends or business profits, as well as from tariffs on machinery and equipment imports, she elaborated.

Cuba is promoting investments in export manufacturing in a bid to reduce its own imports, remove bottlenecks in the production chain, and facilitate modernisation.

Most notably, participants were informed that the country will allow companies owned entirely by foreigners to carry out major industrial infrastructure projects.-VNA