HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam will focus on enhancing thecompetitiveness of the logistics sector and removing bottlenecks in the industryin order to promote trade and investment with India, an official has said.

Speaking at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on March 30, Pham Thi NgocThuy, Director of the Office of the Private Economic Development ResearchCommittee, said there was immense potential for improvement in bilateraltrade between Vietnam and India, especially in the logistics sector.

Vietnam’s heavy investment in infrastructure development hascreated significant opportunities for logistics enterprises, she said.

In addition to logistics, other key investment sectors includehi-tech agriculture, food processing, renewable energy, the supportingindustry, healthcare, education, infrastructure, and tourism, among others.

Bilateral trade between the two countries has grown steadily from 200million USD in 2000 to 15.05 billion USD in 2022, up 13.6% year-on-year, shesaid.

India is the eighth largest trading partner of Vietnam, while Vietnamis India’s fourth largest trading partner in the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations (ASEAN), she added.

Vietnam has become an attractive destination for Indian investorsthanks to its stable political environment, appealing policies, affordablelabour costs, and potential market access due to free trade agreements that thecountry has concluded, she said. 

Dang Hong Nhung, from the Agency for Foreign Trade under theMinistry of Industry and Trade, said the logistics sector in Vietnam had greatpotential for growth, given the heavy investments in infrastructure systems,including building and expanding expressways, airports, seaports, and logisticscentres.

The Government last year issued a resolution to enhance thecompetitiveness of the logistics sector, making it a high-added value servicessector.

Under the resolution, Vietnam aims to promote the logisticsindustry development with production, import and export activities. 

It’s necessary to establish sustainable supply chains, improve thequality of human resources and promote digital transformation and technologyapplication in the logistics industry.

The resolution also aimed to promote the development of greenlogistics, which has become a trend and an important indicator for thesustainable development of the logistics industry.

The Government has instructed the Ministry of Finance to continuereviewing the policies of taxes and fees while customs procedures would befurther simplified to create favourable conditions for logistics servicesproviders.

She also noted that 2023 would be a challenging year as the globaleconomy is in a recession coupled with high inflationary risk, leading to adecrease in trade activities as well as logistics activities.

She recommended companies prepare for uncertainties in the contextof the ongoing Russia – Ukraine conflict, natural disasters, diseases, orunexpected incidents.

Bui Trung Thuong, Vietnamese Trade Counsellor in India, saidIndia has a long coastline that is very convenient for shipping while Vietnamhas a direct shipping route to India.

Vietnam and India should cooperate in building and expandingexpressways, airports, seaports, and logistics centres, he added.

Experts also recommended Vietnam develop a strategy for greenlogistics to 2030, in which, the digital transformation should be sped up,infrastructure quality increased and conditions for multimodal transportimproved.

Policies should also be raised to encourage small- andmedium-sized enterprises to switch to green logistics and use renewable energy,they said.

Vietnam and India established diplomatic relations in 1972, whichwas lifted to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2016./.