The free trade zone associated with the seaport is considered a strategic "step" to complete the logistics infrastructure of the Southeast region.
On the morning of December 2, the Ministry of Industry and Trade coordinated with the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province to organize the Vietnam Logistics Forum (VLF) 12 with the participation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
VLF 2024 is held with the theme "Free Trade Zone - Breakthrough Solution to Promote Logistics Growth" with the participation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
Qualify for large-scale free trade zone
Opening the Forum, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien affirmed that logistics is a service industry that is considered the "blood vessels" of the economy, playing an important role in connecting and supporting businesses and production facilities to reduce costs, reduce product prices, improve competitiveness, and promote socio-economic development.
As a country located in a dynamically developing region of the world, where the flow of goods is concentrated and the economy is highly open (over 200%), with 17 Free Trade Agreements signed and implemented with nearly 70 countries and territories (including most of the world's major economies, accounting for 90% of global GDP); import-export turnover and e-commerce always grow at double-digit rates, Vietnam is considered one of the markets with great potential and conditions for developing logistics services.
Recognizing that importance, in recent times, the Party and State of Vietnam have issued many mechanisms, policies and directed the effective implementation of solutions to remove difficulties, reduce costs, improve competitiveness, and create a favorable environment for the development of the logistics service industry. With the attention and close and drastic direction of the Prime Minister; the active and effective participation of ministries, branches and localities; especially the outstanding efforts of the business community, our country's logistics service industry has made quite strong developments (an average increase of 14-16%/year), gradually affirming the brand and position of the industry in the region and the world. In 2024, Vietnam will be evaluated and ranked by international organizations in the Top 10 emerging logistics markets; Top 4 in the world in the Logistics Opportunity Index and Top 43 in the Logistics Performance Index.
According to Minister Nguyen Hong Dien, in the context of international integration, Free Trade Zones are one of the important competitive advantages.
However, in addition to the achieved results, the Commander of the Industry and Trade sector also frankly stated that the development of Vietnam's logistics service industry has not been commensurate with the country's potential and advantages; logistics costs are still high, competitiveness is low; the shortage of human resources, especially high-quality human resources and lack of infrastructure connectivity are major "bottlenecks" that have hindered the development of logistics services in recent times.
In addition, geopolitical changes and new business trends (such as supply chain shifts, cross-border e-commerce, green and sustainable development standards) along with increasingly fierce strategic competition between major countries also pose many new challenges to the development of the economy in general and logistics services in particular.
Therefore, with the theme "Free Trade Zones - Breakthrough Solutions to Promote Logistics Growth", VLF 2024 aims to send a strong message from the Government on attracting and encouraging investment, developing Free Trade Zones with strong, feasible policies and open, attractive mechanisms to create a breakthrough driving force to promote economic development in general and the logistics service industry in particular.
Because, according to Minister Nguyen Hong Dien, in the context of increasingly deep international integration, Free Trade Zones are one of the important competitive advantages and an effective tool for countries to maximize the benefits that the integration process brings. In fact, in recent years, the Free Trade Zone model has been successfully applied by many countries (such as Singapore, China, Korea, UAE, etc.), helping to reduce costs, increase product competitiveness and optimize the flow of goods, improve logistics capacity, and attract foreign investment.
“With its strategic geographical location and potential, and strengths in developing deep-water seaport infrastructure, international airports, and road and railway traffic hubs with countries in the region and the world, Vietnam has all the favorable conditions to build and develop large-scale and modern free trade zones,” Minister Nguyen Hong Dien affirmed.
On the morning of December 2, the Ministry of Industry and Trade coordinated with the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province to organize the Vietnam Logistics Forum (VLF) 12.
At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as the focal point for state management of logistics services, is submitting to the Prime Minister a draft Strategy for the development of Vietnam's logistics services for the period 2025 - 2035, with a vision to 2050; accordingly, the draft Strategy has proposed many synchronous and drastic solutions (including solutions on building a Free Trade Zone) to realize the goal of turning Vietnam into a strong country in logistics, actively contributing to the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country. The Minister affirmed that these are very important contents, of practical relevance not only for the development of Vietnam's logistics services industry, but also important for the development of the country's economy in the new era - the era of national development.
Source: Business Forum