Cuba approves Vietnamese company as the first concessionaire in the Mariel Zone

Havana, March 29 (EFE).- Cuba today handed over the first administrative concession of the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM) to the Vietnamese company ViMariel S.A., with totally foreign capital, which will develop infrastructure for the users of that area, a project star of the island to attract foreign investments.

According to the contract in force for 50 years, ViMariel will be in charge of developing a 160-hectare industrial park starting in 2019, within which it will provide, with its own financing, communications facilities and services and electrical and hydraulic networks to investors, reported the state-run Cuban News Agency.

ViMariel, a subsidiary of the Vietnamese Viglacera S.A., will also have the power to attract and propose new clients for the Special Zone, although the final approval will remain in the hands of the authorities of the ZEDM, located about 45 kilometers from Havana.

The signing was made official this Thursday within a Cuba-Vietnam business forum, included in the program of the official visit to Havana of the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Asian country, Nguyen Phu Trong.

The director of Viglacera, Nguyen Anh Tuan and the general director of the ZEDM Office, Ana Teresa Igarza signed the agreement in the presence of the Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, and his Vietnamese counterpart of Industry and Commerce, Tran Tuan Anh.

Igarza assured that this concession "will multiply the effort that Cuba has made so far in the development of the necessary infrastructure for the establishment of investors" in the ZEDM, to which the island allocates about 300 million dollars per year.

Among the powers of the new subsidiary is also the construction and leasing of standard plants, he said.

The director added that due to Viglacera's functions in its nation of origin, ViMariel has the possibility of attracting companies from important sectors for Cuba, including logistics, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, electronics and manufacturing.

Igarza announced that the Asian company is already negotiating with investors linked to the production of flat and block glass.

Currently, the Caribbean island is preparing similar agreements with companies from other countries with the aim of establishing more concessionaires and accelerating the development of infrastructure in the ZEDM.

Vietnam is Cuba's second trading partner in Asia, with bilateral trade exchange that reached 220 million dollars in 2017 and could reach 500 million in 2020, according to official projections.

Last Monday, the installation in Mariel of a plant with Vietnamese capital was announced that will produce disposable diapers and sanitary pads starting in the first half of 2019, two items in high demand in the country that are now mostly imported.

For its economic development, Cuba needs to attract about 2.5 billion dollars in foreign direct investment per year, mainly in 15 key sectors such as industrial, agri-food, tourism, mining, biotechnology, oil and renewable energy.

The ZEDM, officially presented in 2013, is the business center and merchant port where the country wants to locate a large part of these projects, and which already has 34 clients from 16 countries, among which Spain stands out with the largest number of companies.

According to official figures, the ZEDM has secured more than 1,191 million dollars, although of the 34 approved projects, only ten are currently in operation.