Vietnam, Cuba hold first meeting to review implementation of bilateral trade agreement

(Chinhphu.vn) - On December 3, the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced that recently, in the capital city of Havana, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang and Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment of Cuba Deborah Rivas Saavedra co-chaired the 1st meeting of the Joint Committee for the implementation of the Vietnam - Cuba Trade Agreement.

The two sides signed the Minutes of the First Session of the Joint Committee for the Implementation of the Vietnam - Cuba Trade Agreement.

This is an important event marking the first time the two sides have established a periodic dialogue mechanism to review the implementation of the bilateral trade agreement, propose measures to remove obstacles as well as identify key priorities to effectively implement the agreement, contributing to promoting economic, trade and investment cooperation in the context of the two sides celebrating the 65th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam - Cuba diplomatic relations (1960 - 2025).

At the meeting, the two sides comprehensively assessed the bilateral economic, trade and investment relations after 5 years since the Agreement took effect on April 1, 2020. Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang assessed that the bilateral turnover remained stable at 200 million USD in the unfavorable context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economic crisis and the difficult and challenging economic situation of Cuba, demonstrating the joint efforts of both sides in promoting bilateral trade relations. Cuba continues to be one of the ten key markets of Vietnam in Latin America and Vietnam is currently Cuba's second largest partner in the Asia- Pacific region.

Vietnam is currently the largest Asian investor and among the top investors in Cuba with 7 active projects, focusing on the fields of material production, consumer goods, industrial park infrastructure development, energy, and in the near future will expand investment to the fields of wholesale, retail, rice cultivation, instant noodle production, animal feed, fertilizer, as well as joint ventures in research, production and trade of agricultural biotechnology products, medicine, etc.

There is still much room for development in cooperation opportunities between Vietnam and Cuba. Both sides need to make more efforts and coordinate to strive to bring bilateral trade turnover to 500 million USD in the coming time.

Agreeing with the Vietnamese side, the Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment mentioned Cuba's strengths in the field of biotechnology and the potential for investment cooperation between the two countries in the coming time, specifically joint ventures in research and development of vaccines, drugs, biological products of natural origin, as well as expanding the capacity to produce high-quality biomedical products right in Vietnam.

Regarding the implementation of the Vietnam - Cuba Trade Agreement, the two sides reviewed the implementation of specific work contents, including propaganda, dissemination, institution building, implementation of tariff commitments, rules of origin, etc. The rate of Vietnam taking advantage of the Agreement's preferential origin on the side of Vietnam is increasing, showing that businesses are gradually taking advantage of the opportunities brought by the Agreement. The two sides agreed to have favorable policies and mechanisms to remove difficulties and obstacles, prioritize solving payment issues to create more favorable conditions for investment and business activities of Vietnamese enterprises in Cuba.

At the end of the meeting, the two sides signed the Minutes of the First Meeting of the Joint Committee for the Implementation of the Vietnam - Cuba Trade Agreement, in which they agreed on key tasks for coordination in the coming time to improve the effectiveness of the implementation of the Trade Agreement, bringing benefits to businesses and people of the two countries.

In 2024, bilateral trade turnover will recover slightly and reach 199.3 million USD, up 28.1% compared to 2023, of which Vietnam exported 193.7 million USD, up 24.5% and imported 5.6 million USD from Cuba. In the first 10 months of 2025, trade turnover reached 68.97 million USD, of which Vietnam exported 65.52 million USD and imported 3.45 million USD from Cuba.

Vietnam's main export items to Cuba are mainly: rice, coffee, chemical products, textiles, footwear, computers and components, construction materials, ceramics, machinery and equipment, spare parts..., of which rice is the item with the highest proportion in the structure of Vietnam's exports to Cuba. Vietnam's import items from Cuba are mainly vaccines and pharmaceuticals.

Vietnam is currently the second largest trading partner and the largest Asian investor in Cuba.

Anh Tho

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/viet-nam-cuba-hop-phien-dau-tien-ra-soat-tinh-hinh-thuc-thi-hiep-dinh-thuong-mai-song-phuong-102251203162740522.htm