Vietnam to have over 5,000 international logistics enterprises

The event was jointly held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the WLP Program, along with relevant agencies, to examine the potential for strengthening cooperation in logistics between Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Addressing the event, Abdulla Alsuwaidi, manager and lead of Partnerships and Hubs of the WLP, emphasised that the WLP is a global, private sector-led initiative which is specifically designed to smooth the flow of global trade. It has been selecting partners to remove trade barriers and at the same time increase import - export diversity among logistics and trade hubs.

WLP has partners at 29 hubs of the WLP network around the world, and Vietnam has been added to the list of regional logistics and trade centres with the presence of more than 100 Vietnamese logistics enterprises, he added.

Nguyen Ngoc Thuyen, a representative of WLP Vietnam, revealed that by joining the WLP initiative, Vietnamese businesses can save both cost and time in customs clearance, gain entry to new markets, diversify their products, and move to increase the market share for major export products.

With an ecosystem of partners in the supply chain, the WLP initiative will help to create a large flow of goods to form a global chain of key suppliers, he noted.

For his part, Tran Quang Huy, director of the Asia-Africa Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, pointed out that Vietnam is currently among the top 20 trading countries in the world, with import-export turnover last year reaching nearly US$735 billion.

Vietnam has also joined 16 free trade agreements and ranked 11th out of 50 global emerging logistics markets. It is home to roughly 30,000 logistics enterprises, including more than 5,000 enterprises operating in international logistics, helping to form large and medium-sized logistics centres.

Experts outlined that the effective cooperation with the UAE in the field of logistics would contribute to increasing trade among the two sides and partners in the Middle East region and other countries in the world.

A signing ceremony of cooperation agreement between WLP and Vietnamese partners joining the initiative was also held at the conference.