Cuban President and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, on Monday afternoon received Nguyen Van Quang, president of Vietnamese company Agri-VMA, on the occasion of his latest visit to the island. During the meeting, Díaz-Canel highlighted the successful progress of Cuba-Vietnam cooperation in rice production through the three operational models currently implemented by Agri-VMA in Los Palacios, Pinar del Río province.

A registered user of the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM), Agri-VMA operates within the agricultural lands of the Grain Agroindustrial Enterprise of the Pinar del Río territory under a collaborative framework that combines three distinct models: rice cultivation on usufruct land as a wholly foreign-owned enterprise, a partnership agreement with Cuban producers, and the commercialization in hard currency of inputs and technological packages for local farmers in the Vueltabajo region. All three modalities are reportedly yielding high outputs of wet paddy rice.

In assessing the results of the collaboration with Agri-VMA, Díaz-Canel underscored that the initiative reflects the agreements reached with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), To Lam, during the latter's official visit to Cuba in 2024. The Cuban head of state expressed his gratitude to Nguyen Van Quang for a partnership that, in his words, demonstrates "that in a short time Cuba will be capable of achieving self-sufficiency in rice production."

The president also urged the company to complete the plans already agreed upon and to continue strengthening the modalities focused on cooperative production with local farmers, as well as the commercialization of inputs and technological packages. He further underscored the significance of this experience as a model for attracting additional Vietnamese investment to the island.

For his part, Nguyen Van Quang thanked President Díaz-Canel for the reception and conveyed that his visit reflects a firm decision by Vietnam's leadership to continue standing by Cuba. "Cuba," he stated, "is going through a difficult situation, but we are fully prepared to keep providing support so that it may overcome these times."