Havana (VNA) – The Cuban government has granted first administrativeconcession in the Mariel Special Economic Development Zone to the ViMariel S.A company,a subsidiary of the Vietnamese corporation Viglacera.
The signing of the document to this effect was witnessed by Minister ofIndustry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh of Vietnam and Cuban Minister of Foreign Tradeand Foreign Investment Rodrigo Malmierca at the Vietnam-Cuba business forumheld in Havana within the framework of General Secretary of the Communist Partyof Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to Cuba from March 28-31.
Under the document signed between Director General of the Mariel SpecialEconomic Development Zone’s Management Office Ana Teresa Igarza and Chief Representativeof Viglacera in Cuba Nguyen Anh Tuan, the Vietnamese firm will invest 300 millionUSD to build a 160ha industrial park with full road, telecommunication, waterand electricity infrastructure to serve industrial establishments. It will takeViMariel S.A five years to construct the industrial park from 2019. The concessionis 50 years.
[Vietnam, Cuba sign cooperation documents during Party chief’s visit]
Addressing after the signing ceremony, Igarza affirmed this is part of Cuba’s effortsin calling for foreign investment to serve necessary infrastructure developmentfor potential investors in Cuba.
The ViMariel S.A industrial park is expected to welcome businesses involved inlogistics, biotech, pharmaceuticals, electronics and processing.
Also at the business forum, a series of cooperation documents betweenVietnamese companies and Cuban partners. They included a memorandum ofunderstanding between the Hanel company of Vietnam and the Cubanacan group onthe construction of a five star hotel in Havana, and a contract betweenViglacera and Gran Caribe on management and operation, including upgrade andrestoration, of the New York Hotel in Havana downtown.
On this occasion, Minister Malmierca announced that the Cuban government hadapproved two projects of Vietnam’s Tin Thanh Company on agriculturaldevelopment, and the construction of a bio-mass power plant, both in thecentral province of Camaguey. - VNA