Vietnam, Cuba promote trade, investment ties

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung and President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers of Cuba Miguel Mario Diaz Canel Bermudes chaired a dialogue with Vietnamese and Cuban firms in Hanoi on November 9.
Vietnam, Cuba promote trade, investment ties ảnh 1Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung (second from left) and President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers of Cuba Miguel Mario Diaz Canel Bermudes (first from left) (Source: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Trinh DinhDung and President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers of CubaMiguel Mario Diaz Canel Bermudes chaired a dialogue with Vietnamese and Cubanfirms in Hanoi on November 9.

Speaking at the event, the Deputy PM said Vietnam is now thesecond largest trade partner of Cuba in Asia. More and more Vietnamese firms arekeen on promoting trade and investment projects in the Latin American country.

In the first nine months of this year, the Cuban governmentgranted licenses to six Vietnamese firms. The Vietnamese businesses want thetwo governments to create favourable conditions for Cuba’s projects in priorityfields of agriculture, consumer goods, construction materials, hospitalityservices, clean energy, telecommunications, health care, biology andpharmaceuticals, he said.

Dung added that the two governments’ signing of the new Vietnam– Cuba trade agreement during the President’s visit will lay a foundation forboth sides to lift two-way trade to 500 million USD by 2022 from over 200million USD at present.

As requested by Cuba, Vietnam will maintain stable export ofrice to the country in the near future, as well as launch a new stage of a riceproduction project in Cuba.

Vietnamese businesses want to import more goods of Cuba’sstrength, especially bio-tech and health care products, as well as pharmaceuticals,he said.

Bermudes, for his part, said Cuba has launched reform policiesand promoted foreign investment attraction, adding that it has issued a new Lawon Investment to lure more foreign investors.

According to him, the Cuban people trust many Vietnamesegoods while Vietnamese firms are operating effectively in the country.

During the visit by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trongin March 2018, both sides signed a number of important agreements onconstruction, infrastructure, electronic spare parts and food processing. Manyprojects on renewable energy, construction and food processing are underway.

Cuba wants Vietnamese firms to extend operations in civilaviation, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, scientific research, academic andcultural exchange, he said.

The guest proposed both sides to work more closely togetherto improve the efficiency of the Inter-Governmental Committee cooperationmechanism. He wished that during the committee’s 36th meeting inHavana in late 2018, negotiations on many major projects would be concluded.

He pledged to clear barriers facing Vietnamese firms tocontribute to Cuba’s development.-VNA
VNA

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