Vietnamese and Cuban National Assembly Chairmen cut the ribbon to inaugurate two factories in Mariel Special Development Zone

Photo caption — National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and Cuban National Assembly Chairman Esteban Lazo Hernandez cut the ribbon to inaugurate the Suchel - TBV detergent factory. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

Also attending were leaders of relevant ministries and branches of the two countries.

* At the inauguration ceremony of the Suchel - TBV Detergent Factory and the Solar Power Plant, Mr. Tran Ngoc Thuan, Chairman and General Director of Thai Binh Investment and Trade Joint Stock Company, said that the company has been operating and doing business in Cuba for 25 years, investing in many projects with the aim of sustainable development and bringing benefits to the community. The company has recruited and trained 500 local workers. According to Mr. Tran Ngoc Thuan, the 100% Vietnamese-owned diaper factory, which has been operating since 2019, is currently meeting 70% of the demand of Cuban consumers.

In a joint venture project with a Cuban enterprise, the Suchel – TBV Detergent Factory can meet 100% of the demand of Cuban consumers and export to Latin American countries. Meanwhile, the 20 MW Solar Park project is also 100% invested by Vietnam. In the future, the company will expand the installation of other solar parks with a capacity of up to 1,000 MW by 2030.

On behalf of the leaders of Thai Binh Investment and Trade Joint Stock Company, Mr. Tran Ngoc Thuan thanked the leaders of the two countries, ministries, branches, the Mariel Development Zone Office and the Vietnamese Embassy in Cuba for creating favorable conditions for businesses to do business and invest in Cuba, contributing to promoting the close cooperation and friendship between the two brotherly countries of Vietnam and Cuba.

Ms. Ana Teresita González Fraga, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment of Cuba, emphasized that these are projects of great importance to Cuba, directly related to the development of solar energy and the production of detergents for domestic consumption and export.

According to Ms. Ana Teresita González Fraga, Vietnam is the Asian country with the largest presence in the Mariel Special Development Zone, with 5 projects with a total committed capital of over 160 million USD. Regarding Thai Binh Investment and Trade Joint Stock Company, Ms. Ana Teresita González Fraga assessed that the company always demonstrates solidarity and social responsibility in Cuba.

Minister of Construction Nguyen Thanh Nghi said that the inauguration ceremony of the two projects is of great significance, affirming the efforts and determination of Thai Binh Investment and Trade Joint Stock Company in expanding and increasing investment and business in Cuba. The two factories coming into operation will contribute to meeting the demand for washing powder, detergents, electricity and creating more jobs for the Cuban people, as well as contributing to the economic and social development of Cuba.

Minister Nguyen Thanh Nghi expressed his belief that with close cooperation, the two factories will operate effectively, contributing to helping Cuba gradually become self-sufficient in the production of electricity and basic consumer goods, thereby minimizing the use of foreign currency to import goods and gradually developing the domestic manufacturing industry.

Minister Nguyen Thanh Nghi hopes that Cuban ministries, departments, and agencies and the Mariel Development Zone Office will continue to create favorable conditions for the two factories to operate stably and develop further, bringing practical benefits to both sides, contributing to the realization of Cuba's socio-economic development goals.

At the ceremony, General Director of Suchel Detergent Factory - TBV Nguyen Lam Dien and Ms. Isabel Matinez Ramires, Deputy General Director of the factory, symbolically presented 24 tons of detergent to support the health system of Artemisa province.

Delegates attending the inauguration ceremony also watched live from the Solar Park the donation of 5 kWh battery panels to Mariel Orlando Santana General Hospital and the inauguration of the Solar Park.

* Phase II construction started, ViMariel Industrial Park

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the second phase of the ViMariel Industrial Park, Mariel Special Development Zone, Deputy Minister Ana Teresita Gonzáslez Fraga highly appreciated the joint efforts of ViMariel Joint Stock Company and the Mariel Special Development Zone Office in attracting potential investors to establish new business activities in key sectors to help develop the Cuban economy. Ms. Ana Teresita Gonzáslez Fraga emphasized that the groundbreaking ceremony of the second phase affirms the solidity and development of economic relations between Cuba and Vietnam.

Deputy Minister Ana Teresita Gonzáslez Fraga expressed her hope that new Vietnamese companies and those from other countries will also come to the Mariel Special Development Zone. She called on Vietnamese businesses, as pioneering and important partners of the Zone, to continue promoting and attracting investment to develop new projects that bring mutual benefits to both sides. She affirmed that Cuban authorities are always ready to support to continue promoting and turning new projects into reality.

Minister Nguyen Thanh Nghi highly appreciated ViMariel Joint Stock Company's efforts to overcome difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic to complete the construction of phase I. The company has attracted 4 foreign investors and is negotiating with many other investors.

With the commencement of Phase II on April 21, Minister Nguyen Thanh Nghi assessed this as an important event, affirming Viglacera's determined efforts in expanding and increasing investment in Cuba. This is also a clear demonstration of the effective and sustainable cooperation between Vietnam and Cuba, contributing significantly to attracting investment from Vietnamese and foreign enterprises to the Mariel Special Development Zone, gradually developing industrial production to be self-sufficient in all circumstances and creating more jobs for the Cuban people, thereby promoting the socio-economic development of Cuba.

Also at this event, Minister Nguyen Thanh Nghi expressed his delight at witnessing the granting of the Cuban Government's Investment Certificate to Vietnam's Agri-VMA Company to invest in animal feed production in the ViMariel Industrial Park. The Minister firmly believes that with the increasingly practical and attractive preferential and investment attraction policies of the Cuban Government, in the future there will be more foreign investors and Vietnamese enterprises participating in investing in the Mariel Special Development Zone.

The Minister suggested that Viglacera Corporation, with its experience in successfully investing in 10 industrial parks in Vietnam, focus resources to closely coordinate with the Mariel Development Zone Office to construct on schedule, ensure quality, ensure safety, build synchronous and modern infrastructure to attract more investment projects to ViMariel Industrial Park. Meanwhile, the Mariel Development Zone Office continues to create favorable conditions to support ViMariel to ensure the progress of project implementation, attract investment, and contribute significantly to promoting investment and business projects in particular and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Cuba in general.

ViMariel Joint Stock Company was established in 2018 to invest in the construction and management of the infrastructure of an industrial park with an area of 156 hectares in the Mariel Special Development Zone, with a total investment capital of 41 million USD. This is the first foreign enterprise to be granted land use rights by the Cuban Government to build and manage the infrastructure of an industrial park to attract investment in the fields of food production, consumer goods, construction materials, electronics and food industries.

Also at the ceremony, leaders of Binh Duong province and Artemisa province signed and exchanged a Letter of Intent on developing cooperative relations between the two localities. Leaders of Binh Duong province presented Artemisa province with 50 tons of rice.

* Prospects for cooperation in the field of biotechnology

Also at the Mariel Special Development Zone, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, Cuban National Assembly Chairman Esteban Lazo Hernandez and representatives of ministries and sectors of the two countries visited the Cuban Center for Biotechnology and Genetics (CIGB) of the Cuban Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Group (BioCubaFarma).

Here, Mr. Eduardo Martínez Díaz, President of BioCubaFarma Group, shared with the leaders of the National Assembly of the two countries about the history of the formation of CIGB. This center was established 40 years ago, by President Fidel Castro who was the founder and promoter of its development. President of the Cuban National Assembly Esteban Lazo Hernandez, when he was Secretary of the city of La Habana, also made great contributions to the construction and development of CIGB, together with President Fidel Castro.

According to Mr. Eduardo Martínez Díaz, BioCubaFarma Group currently has 46 companies, 20 scientific and technological units, 115 production facilities, and more than 19,000 employees. The Group is promoting international cooperation and technology transfer in a number of countries, including Vietnam. Products in cooperation with Vietnamese partners are in the final production stage.

BioCubaFarma supplies nearly 1,000 products to the domestic market, including medical equipment, medicines, etc.; of which 757 products serve the Public Health System. One of the outstanding products is the vaccine against meningitis, hepatitis B, COVID-19, etc. All of the technology to produce these vaccines is completely self-sufficient by Cuba.

In addition, BioCubaFarma Group focuses on research projects on biological products for disease prevention and treatment, some of which have been applied and proven to have good results in treating brain cancer in children and lung cancer. The Group also produces biological products for treating diabetes that are recognized by the scientific community as highly effective... Last year, BioCubaFarma and Vietnam's T&T Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the fields of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and biotechnology.

The President of BioCubaFarma Group expressed his admiration for Vietnam's current development as well as the prospects for cooperation in the field of biotechnology between the two countries to realize the techniques and research results of Cuban scientists, contributing to promoting the cooperative relationship between the two peoples of Cuba and Vietnam.

Wishing BioCubaFarma Group and Vietnamese partners effective cooperation, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said that the Vietnamese Politburo has just issued Resolution No. 36-NQ/TW dated January 30, 2023 on the development and application of biotechnology to serve the country's sustainable development in the new situation. National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue hopes that National Assembly Chairman Esteban Lazo Hernandez will support the process of promoting cooperation in this field between the two countries.

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