Vietnam veteran turned businessman plans Cuba investments

Chairman of Vietnamese multi-sector corporation Pacific Corporation Phan Van Quy, who served during the resistance war against the U.S. imperialists, has high hopes for future investments in Cuba once the embargo on the Latin American country is lifted.

You were a soldier and delegate at the 11th World Festival of Youth and Students in Havana, Cuba in 1978. What are your memories of Cuba and President Fidel Castro?

During his visit to Vietnam in 1973, President Fidel Castro presented our soldiers with modern road building equipment. This helped soldiers open the Eastern Truong Son trail, one of the main routes carrying supplies from the North to the South, making an important contribution to the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country.

In July 1978, I was honored to represent the Truong Son soldiers to join the Vietnamese youth and student delegation at the 11th World Festival of Youth and Students in Havana, Cuba. I had heard a lot of Cuba, but when I arrived in this country, I felt the sincerity and warmth of the Cuban people and President Fidel towards us.

During the festival, the Cuban people flooded the streets to welcome the Vietnamese delegation. They regarded the Vietnamese as long lost brothers. Some delegation members were even lifted by the crowds. Although the festival was attended by more than 170 countries, the Vietnamese delegation received the warmest welcome. Some newspapers even headlined "Havana, the face of Vietnam!".

As Vice President of the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Association, what have you contributed to the friendship between the two countries?

In 2021, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Cuba, Pacific Corporation came up with the idea of publishing the book "Fidel Castro and Vietnam, unforgettable memories" in Vietnamese and Spanish. Publishing this book in Spanish was very difficult because there were very few experts in Spanish in Vietnam at that time. We had to seek cooperation from Vietnamese senior officials who had studied and worked in Cuba, and Cuban experts who had been in Vietnam for a long time but moved to other countries. After much hardship and patience, the book was published on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations.

As the head of a successful business in Vietnam, what do you think about promoting investment in the Cuban market?

Not long ago, Roberto Morales Ojeda, a member of the Politburo and standing member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of Cuba, paid a working visit to the corporation. During that visit, we expressed interest in investing in Cuba. But the most difficult problem is that Cuba is still under embargo. In his speech at the General Debate of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on the afternoon of September 22, 2023, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed lifting the embargo on Cuba. I hope this will be realized soon.

While we have not yet made investments in Cuba, we have provided financial support for the Havana-based Tio Ho Primary School, which was named after President Ho Chi Minh, to buy learning equipment.

We also gave funding to Cuba to purchase medical equipment during the recent Covid-19 pandemic.