A high-ranking Vietnamese delegation led by Party General Secretary and State President To Lam visited the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM), the first free trade and export processing zone of Cuba, on Thursday morning (local time) as part of his ongoing state visit to the Caribbean nation.

First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and President of Cuba Miguel Diaz Canel Bermudez joined his Vietnamese counterpart during the visit.

ZEDM general director Ana Teresa Igarza Martínez briefed the top Vietnamese and Cuban leaders on the zone’s operations.

Established in November 2013, the zone spans some 465 square kilometers across the Port of Mariel in Artemisa Province.

The initial funding of approximately US$900 million for ZEDM was mostly backed by Cuba and Brazil, with $600 million coming from Brazilian credit.

As a natural deepwater port, the Port of Mariel is capable of receiving some of the largest vessels in the Caribbean region and handles around 300,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) annually.

As of 2022, ZEDM had granted investment licenses to 62 businesses with pledged capital surpassing $3 billion.

Among the projects, 56 with a combined investment of over $1 billion were put into operation, creating more than 15,000 jobs.

The zone is working on offering more attractive incentives to foreign investors while adopting measures to remove obstacles in terms of production materials, transportation, and payment systems.

ZEDM encourages investment in a wide range of sectors, such as biotechnology, pharmaceutical research and production, packaging, renewable energy, agriculture, food processing, general industries, IT, communications, tourism, real estate, and infrastructure development.

Products from these investment projects can serve the domestic market and be shipped to other countries in the region.

With its modern and well-connected infrastructure, ZEDM is expected to open up significant opportunities for foreign investors, particularly those from Vietnam.

ZEDM now hosts companies from 21 countries and territories such as Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Vietnam.

Vietnam is the second-largest investor in ZEDM, with the Vimariel Industrial Park being the first and only Vietnamese-invested economic zone in this Caribbean nation.

Cuban First Secretary and President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez praised the Vietnamese businesses’ operations in ZEDM, stressing that their presence highlights the special traditional friendship between Vietnam and Cuba.

The top Cuban leader expressed his hope for further cooperation among enterprises of both countries.

First Secretary and President Bermudez expressed gratitude to the Party, state, and people of Vietnam for their strong support for Cuba and hoped that both countries would achieve more significant milestones in the upcoming time.

Party leader and President Lam praised ZEDM as a promising economic model which is piloting new, specialized policies before implementing them on a wider scale.

He said that these policies could provide a strong boost for Cuba’s economy as it seeks to overcome current difficulties.

Lam emphasized that Vietnam will never forget Cuba’s solidarity in the past, while reaffirming the Vietnamese Party, state, and investors’ desire to contribute to Cuba’s national construction and development.

After being briefed on the zone’s general information, the two leaders toured several projects within ZEDM, including the ViMariel Industrial Park.

The two leaders also attended a ceremony during which two Vietnamese companies, Thai Binh Global Investment JSC and ATG Fertilizer Company, were granted investment licenses to operate in the zone.

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