Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese enterprises need to devise specific businessstrategies and fully tap opportunities to further partner with Cuban firms,thus expanding their operation in the country, a Vietnamese official has said.

Accordingto Do Viet Phuong, Head of the Vietnamese Commercial Affairs Office in Cuba, manyVietnamese enterprises have sought trade and investment cooperationopportunities in Cuba in recent years, especially in the domains of tourism,health care, construction, consumer goods, electronics, aquaculture and realestate.

Notably,a Vietnamese Government-supported rice production project helped Cuba increaseits rice yield to 4.4 tonnes/ha from 2.4 tonnes/ha in previous time, meeting about50 percent of the domestic demand. The rice cultivation area was also expanded from137,000 ha to 200,000 ha.

More importantly, the project has helped Cuban farmers acquire and master paddygrowing techniques. The Vietnamese side will support Cuba in the fifth periodof the project.

A number of cooperation project between the two sides are on the progress, includingthose in real estate, consumer goods and beverage production, and pottery andceramics.

Phuong, however, noted that Vietnam’s investors are still facing manydifficulties as the foreign currency liquidity ofthe Cuban banks is still slow, and legal procedures related to business registrationare complicated.

The Vietnamese Government should simplify policies on capital to make it easierfor enterprises to improve their competitiveness in the Cuban market, he said, addingthat it is necessary to organise events to provide more information related theCuban market to Vietnamese businesses.

In 2017, two-way trade between Vietnam and Cuba reached 224.3 million USD, ofwhich Vietnam’s exports to Cuba valued at 217 million USD and its imports fromthe Latin American market stood at 7.3 million USD.

Accordingto Pham Thiet Hoa, Director of the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC)in Ho Chi Minh City, Cuba’s import from Vietnam accounted for only 3.5 percent inits total import turnover in 2016.

He highlighted that Vietnamese firms have many opportunities to invest in Cuba,especially in tourism, agriculture, telecommunication, consumer goodsproduction, footwear and textiles.

Cuba is seen as a potential market, which can help Vietnam expand cooperation andexchange with other countries in the Latin American and Caribbean regions, hesaid.  

Recently, ITPC in collaboration with the Cuban Consulate General in Ho Chi MinhCity to hold a workshop to update Vietnamese enterprises on market informationand investment incentives of Cuba, thus helping them roll out rightorientations to access the potential market.

It also hosted a field trip for a delegation of Vietnamese firms to Havana andVinales cities of Cuba from March 8-17, offering them a chance to understandmore about consumption culture of Cuban people, and seek partners as well, Hoasaid.

TheCuban Government clearly stated its policy of investment attraction to promote domesticproduction through issuing a new legal framework on foreign investment managementand encouragement. It also established Mariel Special Economic Development Zone to call for foreign investment with many incentives.  

Meanwhile,the Vietnamese Government always encourages and creates thebest possible conditions for businesses of the two sides to expand cooperationin order to make the economic and trade ties on par with bilateral politicalrelations as well as the special time-honoured friendship.

The two countries have set to achieve a trade value of 500 million USD by 2020.

The State visit to Cuba by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam(CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong from March 28-30 is hoped to consolidatepolitical ties and beef up bilateral cooperation in economy, trade andinvestment.-VNA