Binh Duong looks to boost investment cooperation with Cuba
Vice Secretary of the Binh Duong provincial Party Committee Nguyen Hoang Thao had a working session with representatives of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce (CCC) on September 13 as part of his working visit to Cuba.
During the meeting, Thao briefed the Cuban side on Binh Duong’s economic development achievements, saying that it is one of economic locomotives of Vietnam with dynamic industrial development and among the three leading localities in attracting the most FDI in the country.
In the first half of 2022, Binh Duong’s GRDP expanded by 6.85% year-on-year, hitting US$11.2 billion. The province is home to over 4,000 foreign-invested projects worth US$39.5 billion.
Thao said the province hopes to further enhance investment cooperation with Cuba in health care, biological application, production of household appliances, furniture, garments and footwear products, and ceramics.
For his part, Chairman of CCC Antonio Luis Carricarte Corona said the meeting helps the two sides initially identify potential areas of cooperation, laying a foundation for stronger cooperation in the future.
Cuba is very eager to learn from Binh Duong’s cooperation model with Singapore, the Netherlands, China and Japan, thus developing its Mariel Special Development Zone - the first and only special economic zone in this island nation, he added.
The same day, the Binh Duong delegation had a meeting with representatives of Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital in Havana, during which Director of Binh Duong’s Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Toan mentioned the possibility of cooperation between Cuba and Vietnam in medical tourism, citing statistics that Vietnamese people averagely spend about US$2 billion each year on medical examination and treatment abroad.
Binh Duong’s Hanh Phuc International Hospital is applying an effective consultation model between local doctors and Singaporean experts, Toan said, adding that Binh Duong and Cuba can also cooperate in a similar model.
Deputy Director of Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital Rigoberto García Gómez, affirmed that as a leading medical unit in Cuba, the hospital has enough human resources to meet the healthcare needs of foreign patients and it is ready to deploy immediately medical cooperation plans with Binh Duong in this field.
The Cuban hospital is willing to help Vietnam train and improve the quality of medical staff, he said.