Vietnam will promote investment projects in the Mariel Special Development Zone of Cuba

According to VNA special envoy, on the occasion of his official visit to the Republic of Cuba, on the morning of September 20 (local time), in the capital Havana, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc greeted Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz and leader of the Mariel Special Development Zone. The two sides exchanged potentials and advantages of the Mariel Special Development Zone in Artemisa province, western Cuba.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc greets Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz.

Emphasizing the potential and advantages of the Mariel Special Development Zone, Minister Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz said that this special economic zone has achieved many positive results in recent years. This is a good condition for attracting foreign investment projects and high-tech projects to invest in Cuba, thereby promoting Cuba's export activities in the coming time.

Mariel Special Development Zone covers an area of ​​more than 400,000 hectares. Cuba has enacted a Law allowing foreign investment in this special zone. The special zone has attracted projects in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods production, banking, construction and some other fields. In particular, this special zone also has an attractive tax-free policy for investors and implements a concise procedure in procedures that take only 60 days, following the one-stop model. Up to now, the special zone has approved 59 projects, with 34 projects already in operation, with a total value exceeding 3 billion USD from 21 countries, expected to create 15,761 jobs. Among these, there are 3 projects of Vietnamese investors.

The leader of the Mariel Special Development Zone wished to have more investment projects from Vietnam on the basis of the special traditional friendship between the two countries and many cooperation agreements signed in the fields of justice, commercial, financial…

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc also said that Vietnam will promote investment projects in the Mariel Special Development Zone with practical fields to serve the development and living needs of the Cuban people, especially essential commodities, high-tech industry, infrastructure development. The President wants Cuba to invest more in the infrastructure of the Mariel Special Development Zone. Along with that is the need for a flexible and preferential investment policy for investors to come to Mariel in the context of embargoes and remote geography. In particular, investment procedures must be convenient, simple, and open, creating the best conditions for investors.