Cuban Minister of Construction requested to finish procedures of establishing joint ventures in Cuba for building materials production within October 2016

At the invitation of the Minister of Construction of Vietnam, Mr. Rene Antonio Mesa Villafana, Minister of Construction of Cuba visited and worked in Vietnam from June 12-19th 2016. While in Vietnam, the Cuban Minister of Construction will have meeting with leaders of the Government of Vietnam, talks with leaders of the Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of National defense, working with Viglacera Corporation, Vietnam Cement Corporation, visiting several production facilities producing ceramic tiles and sanitary ware in Vietnam.

On June 13th 2016 morning, Cuban Construction Minister – Mr. Rene Mesa Villafana Antonio; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Cuba in Vietnam – Mr. Herminio Lopez Diaz and working team have visited and worked at the Ministry of Construction. Speaking at the meeting, the Minister of Construction - Mr. Pham Hong Ha affirmed that the Ministry of Construction of Vietnam is willing to share management experience and development of the construction industry during the renovation period with the Ministry of Construction of Cuba such as urrban and housing development, design consultancy, quality control of construction works, application of technology in building construction, production of building materials...

Minister Pham Hong Ha also wants the leaders of Cuba, including the Cuban Minister of Construction to create favorable conditions for cooperation between the two countries as well as Vietnam's enterprises, especially construction enterprises to develop in Cuba. In which, the ceramic tiles and sanitary ware joint venture factory between the Viglacera Corporation and Geicon Group under the Cuban Ministry of Construction, should be established quicly, put the plant into operation to supply products to the market, meeting the demand of building materials in Cuba. In recent time, to present products on the market, the Ministry of Construction of Vietnam suggested Cuban Minister of Construction supporting and facilitating Viglacera to export to Cuba sanitary ware products, ceramic tiles, shower asnd faucet meeting the needs of Cuban construction enterprises for new housing development programe and buildings in Cuba.

After an overview of the economic and social situation after the success of the 7th General Communist Party Congress of Cuba, Cuban Construction Minister Rene Antonio Mesa Villafana said: One of the important objectives adopted in the 7th General Communist Party Congress of Cuba is infrastructure development. Cuban Ministry of Construction manages all projects in the fields of investment such as roads, ports, tourist hotels, residential and industrial buildings. To develop the infrastructure of the country, Cuba must have material industry, therefore, Cuba should seek help from traditional friendly countries, in which Vietnam ranks the first in priority. He hopes Vietnam will help Cuba in the development of building materials.

On June 14th 2016 afternoon, the Cuban Minister of Construction Corporation – Mr. Rene Antonio Mesa Villafana visited some production plants of Viglacera - Viglacera Thanh Tri sanitary ware Company - Tien Son Granite – Viglacera AAC - Ha Long Ceramic - Tien Son IZ - Yen Phong IZ – Dang Xa Social residential. Here, the Minister directly visited the production line, manufacturing processes, which shall also be applied in Cuba after the completion of the procedures for establishment of a joint venture between Viglacera and Geicon Group under the Ministry of Construction of Cuba.

Earlier in April this year in Cuba, the delegation of Viglacera Corporation – JSC leaded by Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan – General Director had signed a Cooperation agreement establishing a joint venture with the Group of industrial construction enterprises (Geicon) under the Ministry of Construction of Cuba, offering solutions and roadmap for completion of the project files before October 2016. As soon as the joint venture project of sanitary ware and ceramic tiles production is implemented, it will bring benefits to both countries, both enterprises, contributing to meet the demand for building materials for Cuban market, especially for the needs of renovation and new construction of residentials and for the hotel development projects to meet the surge of visitors. The joint venture Project will contribute to economic and social development of Cuba, as well as to create more jobs for the people of Cuba.

After visiting the traditional hall at Viglacera Tower, a place to keep these artifacts, pictures of the establishment and development process of Viglacera in particular and historical painting the entire construction industry in Vietnam in general, Minister Rene Antonio Mesa Villafana appreciated the strong development of Viglacera. With the building materials manufacturing industrial lines of Viglacera, these products are very suitable for today’s building needs in Cuba.

The Cuban Minister also confirmed, during the opening up of Cuba, there has been a lot of foreign enterprises looking for an opputunity to cooperate but we chose Viglacera for the friendship between the two countries, and above all, for Viglacera’ capacity. The Minister also suggested that, in addition to positive negotiations and discussions between Group of Building Materials of Cuba (Geicon) and Viglacera Corporation, both parties should fisnish negotiation within June 2016. In August and September 2016, the parties will review and evaluate the entire work to prepare for the launch of the joint venture in October 2016. Currently, demand for building materials in Cuba in particular and in Latin America in general is great, the Cuban believes that the launch of the joint venture, the first joint venture construction company with Vietnam, will be the biggest joint venture, most effective, providing high-quality sanitary ware products and ceramic tiles throughout the Latin America market.

To express determination of Viglacera and Geicon to set up the joint venture in October 2016, on June 14th 2016 afternoon, at the head office of the Viglacera Corporation, there was a ceremony of signing the Joint venture establishment schedule agreement between Geicon and Viglacera in the witness of Cuban Ministry of Construction and the senior officials from both parties.

Some photos of the Minister while visting and working at Viglacera:

The Minister visited the Southern industrial area of Viglacera: