Hai Phong (VNA) - A delegation of officials from Cuba had a working session with representatives of the Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority (HEZA) on May 11 on the occasion of their trip to the northern port city of Hai Phong.

At the meeting, HEZA Head Le Trung Kien gave participants an overview of industrial parks and economic zones in Hai Phong.

Accordingly, the city is home to Dinh Vu - Cat Hai Economic Zone, which covers an area of 22,450 ha, including tariff zones, non-tariff zones and other areas.

The economic zone has a system of deep-water ports serving the transport of goods directly from Vietnam to the US and European countries, Kien said, adding that Hai Phong also has industrial parks located outside the economic zone (EZ).

IPs and EZs in Hai Phong have so far lured 477 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects and 205 domestic investment projects worth over 23.35 billion USD and over 12.63 billion USD, respectively.

Along with implementing general guidelines and policies of the Vietnamese Government, Hai Phong has always paid attention to improving the business and investment environment to lure big investors which use high and fuel-saving technologies, and less labour-intensive production lines, Kien stressed.

For investment promotion, Hai Phong has worked hard on introducing opportunities and potential for investing in the city through direct meetings with investors in China and the Republic of Korea, or investment promotion and dialogue programmes with foreign investors held in Vietnam, as well as via using virtual reality technologies, he went on.

Members of the Cuban delegation shared issues related to investment incentive policies, human resource training, priority fields for investment attraction.

Yanet Mazquez Valdes, Deputy Director of the Mariel Special Development Zone’s Office, who is also head of the delegation, expressed her impression for achievements in developing IPs and EZs in Hai Phong, saying that these will be valuable experience for Cuba to map out policies for developing EZs.

She presented a brief introduction about the Mariel Special Development Zone, noting that this is the only special economic zone of Cuba so far, which has attracted investors from 21 countries worldwide, including those from Vietnam.

The main areas of the zone are logistics services, biotechnology, biopharmaceutical industry and advanced manufacturing, she added./.