Trade Vietnam-Cuba in recent years considerably decreased

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has told Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz at a reception in Hanoi on September 18

Trade between Vietnam and Cuba declined to 175 million USD in 2012.
Vietnam Economic News spoke with Do Viet Phuong, Trade Counselor of
Vietnam in Cuba, about Vietnam’s exports to Cuba.

*There’s an opinion that trade between Vietnam and Cuba has declined due to payment-related problems. What’s your view?

Trade between Vietnam and Cuba in recent years considerably decreased,
reaching a mere 175 million USD in 2012. Reasons included the impact of
the global economic recession which began in 2008. Based on subjective
and objective factors, Cuba has developed the domestic market in the
direction of gradually reducing imports and increasing exports. This
orientation has been in line with Cuba’s open-door policy and the
resolution of the sixth congress of the Communist Party of Cuba.

In the past, Vietnam’s rice exports to Cuba accounted for nearly 70
percent of the total trade between the two countries, but now these have
decreased due to Cuba’s agricultural development policy. In the past,
due to economic difficulties, Cuba had to imports large volumes of
Vietnamese rice, but it met some problems in importing Vietnamese rice
due to the geographical distance between the two countries. Therefore,
the Cuban government decided to concentrate on boosting agricultural
production with technical assistance from Vietnam.

So, I think, we cannot attribute the decline in trade between Vietnam and Cuba to payment-related problems.

* Some businesses complained that the use of 360-day or 180-day
deferred payment letters of credit (L/Cs) by Cuban importers had been an
obstacle to Vietnam’s exports to Cuba. What do you think of this?

Keep reading on vietnamon >>