Addressing the event, VCCI Vice Chairman Doan Duy Khuong said that trade between Vietnam and Cuba increased by 2.4 times, from 142 million USD in 2013 to 336 million USD last year.

Vietnam mainly exports rice, consumer goods, metal, paper, pottery, chemicals, machines and garments and textiles to Cuba, while importing pharmaceutical products and functional foods from the Caribbean country, he said.

As of late 2018, Cuba had invested 6.7 million USD into two projects in Vietnam, ranking 77th out of 130 countries and territories pouring capital into the Southeast Asian country, Khuong said.

However, the results failed to match with cooperation potential and advantages of both countries, he stressed.

Meanwhile, Cuban Ambassador to Vietnam Lianys Torres Rivera told participants that 2018 was a successful year for the bilateral relations, reflected through the exchange of high-level visits.

She noted that during a state visit to Cuba in March 2018 by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President Nguyen Phu Trong, the two sides signed 22 cooperation documents, including four economic contracts, demonstrating their determination to lift trade ties to a new height.

Cuba will create more favourable conditions for bilateral trade collaboration, the ambassador affirmed.

Omar de Jesus Fernandez Jimenez, General Secretary of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, suggested the two countries enhance cooperation in health services, biology, information technology and aquaculture.

He voiced his hope that the business communities of Cuba and Vietnam will carry out more projects and expand collaboration.