National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and President of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernandez cut the ribbon to inaugurate the Suchel - TBV laundry detergent factory (Photo: VNA)

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and President of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernandez cut the ribbon to inaugurate the Suchel-TBV laundry detergent factory and solar park of Vietnam's Thai Binh Investment and Trading Corporation at Mariel Special Development Zone in Artemisa province on April 21 (local time).

According to Tran Ngoc Thuan, Chairman and General Director of Thai Binh Corporation, which has operated in Cuba for 25 years, the Suchel - TBV factory can meet 100% of the needs of Cuban consumers and exports to Latin American countries.

Meanwhile, the 20MW Solar Park also is wholly invested by Vietnam. In the future, the company plans to build another solar parks with a total capacity of up to 1,000 MW by 2030.

Thuan said that currently, Thai Binh Corporation is employing 500 local labourers. He said that the firm's diaper factory, wholly invested by Vietnam, has been operating since 2019 and is currently meeting 70% of the needs of Cuban consumers.

First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment of Cuba Ana Teresita González Fraga highlighted the significance of the projects to Cuba as well as Vietnam's greatest presence at the Mariel Special Development Zone with five projects worth over 160 million USD.

Minister of Construction Nguyen Thanh Nghi held that the inauguration of the two projects show the efforts and determination of Thai Binh Corporation in expanding its investment in Cuba. He said he believes that the two projects will operate effectively and help Cuba become self-reliant in power and commodity supply.

Nghi said he hopes the Cuban side will continue to create optimal conditions for the two factories to operate stably, benefiting both sides and contributing to realising socio-economic development goals of Cuba.

At the ceremony, General Director of Suchel- TBV factory Nguyen Lam Dien and Isabel Matinez Ramires, Deputy General Director of the factory, symbolically presented 24 tonnes of washing powder to the health care sector of Artemisa province.

Representatives from the Solar Park also presented 5KWh solar panels to Mariel Orlando Santana General Hospital.

The same day, the Vietnamese and Cuban leaders also attended the launching of the second phase of ViMariel Industrial Park.

NA Chairman Hue explores the design of the ViMariel Industrial Park (Photo: VNA)

Ana Teresita Gonzáslez Fraga affirmed that the construction of the project's second phase shows the steadiness and growth of the Cuba-Vietnam economic partnership.

She called on Vietnamese companies, as a pioneer and important partner of the Mariel Special Development Zone, to continue to attract investment in new projects that benefit both sides. She affirmed that Cuban authorities are always willing to support them in implementing new projects.

Nghi hailed ViMariel's efforts in overcoming COVID-19 impacts to complete the first phase of the project. The park has attracted four foreign investors and seen interest from many others, he noted, underlining that the project reflects the effective and sustainable cooperation between Vietnam and Cuba.

At the event, the Cuban Government granted an investment licence to Agri-VMA, an animal feed company of Vietnam in ViMariel IP. Nghi said he believes that with attractive investment attraction policies, Cuba will lure more foreign investors, including those from Vietnam, to the Mariel Special Development Zone.

ViMariel JSC was established in 2018 to operate a 156-hectare industrial park in the Mariel Special Development Zone with a total investment of 41 million USD.

It is the first foreign enterprise granted the right to use land by the Cuban Government to build, manage and operate the industrial park infrastructure to attract investment in the fields of food and foodstuff production, consumer goods, building materials, electronic industry, and food.

At the event, leaders of Binh Duong and Artemisa provinces signed and exchanged a Letter of Intent on developing cooperative relations between the two localities. Binh Duong also presented Artemisa province with 50 tonnes of rice.

Also on April 21, NA Chairman Hue and President of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernandez visited the Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) run by BioCubaFarma Group in the Mariel Special Development Zone.

Eduardo Martínez Díaz, Chairman of BioCubaFarma said that the centre was founded 40 years ago, and is hosting 46 companies, 20 science-technology developers, and 115 production facilities, with over 19,000 employees. He said that the firm is strengthening international cooperation and technology transfer in a number of countries, including Vietnam.

BioCubaFarma supplies nearly 1,000 products to the domestic market, including medical equipment, and medicines. Prominent among those are the vaccines against meningitis, hepatitis B, and COVID-19. All of the vaccine production technologies are fully owned by Cuba, he added.

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. He also highlighted the cooperation potential between the two countries in biotechnology.

NA Chairman Hue said that the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee has issued a resolution on biotechnology development and application for national sustainable development in the new period. He said he hopes the Cuban top legislator will help promote bilateral partnership in this area./. VNA