Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung: Giving all facilitating conditions to develop the logistics service sector

At the forum, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung delivered a speech on the dvelopmet of Vietnam’s logistics service sector, stating “The Government requires ministries, sectors and local authorities to receive opinitions and urgently solve recommendations from associations, enterprises, experts, scientists: to cut all unescesary procedures and do research to improve mechanism, policies and facilitate the logistics service sector’s development.

Dung said in 2020 Vietnam had success in control the pandemic and in recovery socio-economic developments, which is appreciated by the world community. The results was thanks to contributions from different sectors, levels and business communities of all fields, especially from the logistics service sector.

Although there have been great achievements, there are limitations and inadequacies still: high logistics service fees reduce Vietnam’s competition abilities and rise costs. It is due to inconsistency among different sectors and fields: transport infrastructures, trade and IT are limited; connection to regional countries is slow; cooperation between e-commerce and logistics is not very effective; Vietnam’s competition abilities are lower than those of regional countries’; Vietnam has had no large enterprises and no synchronous supply of logistics services; and human resource does not meet requirements.

Dung said logistics in Vietnam started in the 1990s. And it has developed strongly since. And the system of policy and legal framework on logistics has been gradually improved: there have been significant changes in its infrastructures; many great modern works were invested and then put into operation with high efficiency; Vietnam’s logistics service has had high growth rate of 12%-14%; outsourcing rate is around 60%-70%, contributing 4%-5% of GDP; Vietnam LPI ranked 39/160 countries participating in the study- an increase of 25 ranks compared to that of 2016- and ranked the third in ASEAN countries.

Talking about upcoming duties, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said the Government had specific requirements to the important service sector, including requirements to reduce logistics costs for higher efficiency and better competition abilities of goods ane the economy. In order to do so, the logistics service should be developed to be a service sector with high valued added. They should connect logistics service with commodity production, import-export and trade development, transport infrastructure development, and information technology as well. Vietnam should develop a healthy logistics service market, creating equal opportunities for enterprises of all economic elements, attract investments capital in the country and abroad, make good use of their geographical strategic position, improve connection to make Vietnam an important regional logistics hub. Competition abilities of logistics service providers should also be improved both in local and international markets.

The signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding between VLA and VIDA

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung also emphasized 6 groups of key tasks for ministries and agencies in the coming time:

(1) Ministries and sectors need to focus of perfecting systems of regulations, mechanisms and policies related to logistics in fields and sectors that they are in charge of to ensure stability, consistency, transparency and feasibility, especially to reduce sharply administrative procedures and barriers to cut costs for people and enterprises. Especially, they should perfect mechanisms and policies, mobilize resources, reduce costs and promote logistics developments for various fields of transport (road, seaway, waterway, railway and airway) for particular regions and locales. Groups of master solutions in fields of taxes, customs to cut time and costs to logistics activities and to improve quality should also be deployed.

(2) Plan to ensure synchronous connection of infrastructure systems with the goal of developing the logistics service sector should be urgently reviewed and studied. Plans to develop infrastructures should be consistent with strategies and plans on industrial production, agriculture, import-export, and strategies on socio-economicdevelopments of locales. On the basis of planning, list of projects in priority should be clearly indentified for effective investments. And large logistics services centers connecting well to ports and main transport routes should be studied and planned.

(3) Resources should be put in priority to finish infrastructures promoting logistics development. The Ministry of Transport should push up invetments in large traffic works as the North-South Expressway from Lang Son to Ca Mau; inter-regional expressway and bounded highways; Long Thanh Airport; upgrading Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai Airports; international gateway system, local waterway ports… Besides, a system lof logistics center nationwide should be deployed. Connecting logistics infrastructure to countries in the ASEAN, Northeast Asia and other regions worldwide should be expanded to make good use of multi-modal transport, crossborder transport and transshipment. IT application in management, transport exploitation and connecting various modal –transport should be deployed strongly.

(4) In term of solution group to develop logistics enterprises, the Deputy Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Industry-Trade to take the lead in developing solution packages to support enterprises in the process of implementing international economic integration commitments and trouble-shoot issues on policies and implementing free trade agreements as CPTPP, EVFTA and the upcoming Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Besides, the system of logistics statistics indicators should be completed soon: showing ‘bottle necks” in logistics costs to focus on internal strength, to take advantages of opportunities of international economic integration and the Industry 4.0 for breakthroughs in logistics service developments.

(5) The Ministry of Industry and Trade should perform well the task of coordinating and developing the national logistics, promote effectiveness and efficiency of the inter-sector mechanisms with coordination from the Central to local authorities for economic recovery and for restructuring of supply chains, local and international logistics services after the pandemic of COVID-19.

(6) Enhancing training for awareness improvement and human resource quality: Deputy Prime Minister asked universities to study and develop syllabus for logistics training, to establish the logistics faculty and recognize it as a major, to develop a set of voacational standard and a national qualification framework for logistics training which is compatible with ASEAN and the world’s general level. Besides, training organization should develop logisticsrelated vocation training and have cooperation with foreign training orgnizations for reality-based training courses fore more efficiency in logistics human resource training.

Deputy Minister put emphasis on active changes, activities, IT applications, market information from associations and enterprises in the logistics sector for solutions of deploying resources and business production expansions. Vietnam’s enterprises should have cooperation with trusted international enterprises for mutual developments and logistics service quality improvements.