Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang offers flowers at the Ho Chi Minh Monument. Photo: VGP/Hai Minh
The monument consists of two parts, the upper part is a bronze bust of President Ho Chi Minh, the lower part is the body of the statue, the block is carved from a single block of white marble, without decorative patterns, representing the life and virtues of simplicity, modesty and nobility of Uncle Ho.
In February 2003, the Monument and grounds began construction under the design and technical direction of architect Joel Diaz, Vice President of the Cuba - Vietnam Friendship Association.
On May 19, 2003, on the occasion of the 113th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh's birthday, Comrade Esteban Lazzo, President of the National Assembly, President of the Council of State of Cuba (at that time a member of the Politburo , Vice President of the Council of State) and Vietnamese Ambassador to Cuba Pham Tien Tu cut the ribbon to inaugurate the Monument.
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang visits people in Havana who come to visit the Ho Chi Minh Monument. Photo: VGP/Hai Minh
"President Ho Chi Minh is a typical hero who changed the lives of humanity, so the heroine Moncada Melba Hernandez, the founder of the first Solidarity Committee with Vietnam, asked us to do more research on President Ho Chi Minh and Vietnamese history so that the project would be more Vietnamese in character," architect Joel Diaz shared with the Deputy Prime Minister when introducing the process of building the Monument.
The statue of President Ho Chi Minh was designed to clearly demonstrate the simplicity and thrift of President Ho Chi Minh as well as Vietnam's outstanding efforts in the struggle for independence and national reunification.
The Deputy Prime Minister thanked architect Joel Diaz for devoting all his efforts to the President Ho Chi Minh Monument. Photo: VGP/Hai Minh
After the Monument was inaugurated, a Cuba - Vietnam Friendship Association was established to take care of, preserve and protect the Monument of President Ho Chi Minh.
On the occasion of major Vietnamese holidays or when high-ranking delegations, leaders of ministries, branches and organizations of Vietnam visit Cuba, the Cuban side and the Embassy often organize wreath-laying ceremonies at the Ho Chi Minh Monument.
Speaking when offering incense at the Ho Chi Minh Monument, the Deputy Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to Cuba and architect Joel Diaz for their special feelings for Vietnam and beloved President Ho Chi Minh; building and preserving the Ho Chi Minh Monument.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that all the good things about President Ho Chi Minh and the great things in the resistance wars of the Vietnamese people are shown in this work, at the same time showing the special friendship between the Vietnamese and Cuban people.
The Deputy Prime Minister wished comrade Joel Diaz, who has devoted all his efforts to the President Ho Chi Minh Monument project, good health and continued to spread stories about President Ho Chi Minh and the special friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Cuba.
There needs to be a mechanism to soon remove difficulties for Vietnamese businesses investing in Cuba.
On the morning of April 14 (local time), within the framework of an official friendship visit to Cuba, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang visited and worked with the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM), the Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) and Vietnamese investment projects at ZEDM.
Accompanying the Deputy Prime Minister were Minister of Construction Nguyen Thanh Nghi - Chairman of the Vietnam Subcommittee in the Vietnam - Cuba Intergovernmental Committee, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ha Kim Ngoc, Deputy Minister of Public Security Le Van Tuyen, Chairman of Hai Phong City People's Committee Nguyen Van Tung, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cuba Le Quang Long, Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment of Cuba Oscar Perez Oliva.
ZEDM is an international-class production and logistics infrastructure complex, invested in by the Cuban Government and applying special incentive mechanisms to attract foreign direct investment.
The zone was put into use in November 2013 and officially inaugurated in January 2014, and is considered one of the most modern industrial zones in Cuba. The zone attracts investment in areas such as renewable energy, biotechnology, pharmaceutical industry, food, telecommunications and information technology, etc.
The Cuban Government has issued a Decree stipulating tax incentives for businesses investing in the Special Zone such as corporate income tax, sales and services tax, labor tax, export tax on goods from Cuba, tax on repatriation of profits and dividends, and import tax during the investment process.
Ms. Ana Teresa Igarza, General Director of Mariel Development Zone, said that currently, the Zone has 64 approved investment projects with a total investment of 3.3 billion USD, of which 44 projects are in operation. Vietnam is currently the second country in terms of the number of investment projects in Mariel Development Zone.
However, due to the impact of the embargo as well as the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and conflict hotspots around the world, the Cuban economy is facing difficulties, directly affecting the activities of Vietnamese enterprises investing in Cuba in general and the Special Zone in particular.
Faced with the above difficulties, from January 2024, the Cuban Government has introduced a number of policies to support investors, including a 50% tax reduction on domestically produced goods, increasing the linkage between enterprises investing in the Special Zone and the domestic economy to ensure raw materials for production, creating conditions for enterprises to access raw materials domestically and in markets of surrounding countries.
CIGB was founded in 1986 under the direction of Leader Fidel Castro after declaring in 1960 that "the future of Cuba must be the future of men of science".
Under the state-owned biotechnology and pharmaceutical group BioCubaFarma, CIGB specializes in research, development, production and quality control of biological products, pharmaceuticals and vaccines serving the national health system.
CIGB products are used to prepare vaccines to prevent hepatitis B, influenza, dengue fever, and drugs to treat thrombosis; produce alpha and gamma interferons to support the treatment of hepatitis, cancer, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.
In particular, CIGB has successfully developed and produced the COVID-19 vaccine Abdala with an efficacy of 91.7% after 3 injections, approved and used for emergency use from July 9, 2021 in Cuba.
CIGB also has many international cooperation activities, technology transfer to countries such as China, India, Iran... and currently exports pharmaceuticals to more than 40 countries. In Vietnam, CIGB has had and is having partnerships with a number of Vietnamese pharmaceutical companies in product distribution and technology transfer.
Vietnam is the second largest foreign investor in the Mariel Special Development Zone with five projects, including the ViMariel Industrial Park infrastructure project of Viglacera Corporation, solar energy projects, detergent production and personal hygiene equipment projects of Thai Binh Group, and animal feed production project of AgriVMA Company.
ViMariel Industrial Park, with a scale of 256 hectares, is the first and only industrial park invested by a Vietnamese enterprise in Cuba to date. ViMariel is also Cuba's first limited-term concession project for a 100% foreign-owned enterprise.
The industrial park is conveniently located, less than 50km from the capital Havana, 42km from Jose Marti International Airport, about 5km from the deep-water port and 3km from the national railway system.
Vietnamese investors consider Cuba a potential investment market and hope that the Cuban Government will soon have appropriate mechanisms and measures to remove difficulties and promote production and business activities of Vietnamese enterprises in the Mariel Special Development Zone.
Speaking at meetings with the Mariel Special Development Zone, CIGB and Vietnamese investors, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang acknowledged and shared the difficulties of the Cuban economy as well as those of Vietnamese investors investing in Cuba.
The Deputy Prime Minister suggested that both sides work together to build appropriate mechanisms to support Vietnamese investors to soon overcome difficulties, maintain and expand production, contributing to developing Vietnam-Cuba economic relations commensurate with the special friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.
The Deputy Prime Minister also directly suggested new cooperation directions between the two countries based on each side's strengths such as biotechnology and food production; promoting the role of the Mariel Special Development Zone in proposing mechanisms and policies to remove difficulties and promote investment of Vietnamese enterprises in Cuba.
According to VGP
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