The Prime Minister pointed out that it is necessary to raise awareness about the position, role and importance of logistics in the country's development process, especially with Vietnam being the center of the Asia- Pacific region.
On the morning of December 2, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the plenary session of the Vietnam Logistics Forum 2024 with the theme "Free trade zones, breakthrough solutions to promote logistics growth" organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in coordination with the People's Committee of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.
Also attending the event were: Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien; Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung; Minister of Transport Tran Hong Minh; Secretary of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provincial Party Committee Pham Viet Thanh; leaders of ministries, branches, localities, organizations, domestic and foreign enterprises, with a total of more than 2,000 delegates attending in person and online.
Initial foundation for Vietnam logistics development
Logistics is an important service industry, supporting, connecting and promoting socio-economic development, contributing to improving the competitiveness of the economy.
Developing logistics services associated with developing goods production, import-export and trade, developing transport infrastructure, information technology... brings high added value.
Vietnam is considered to have many opportunities to promote the development of the logistics service industry with road traffic infrastructure, airports, seaports, warehouses, commercial infrastructure, and logistics centers constantly expanding on a large and widespread scale. The accompanying services have been promptly meeting the extremely diverse requirements of the market.
The growth rate of the logistics industry in Vietnam in recent years has reached about 14-16%, with a scale of about 40-42 billion USD/year. According to the World Bank's ranking, Vietnam currently ranks 43rd out of 155 countries in terms of logistics efficiency and is among the top 5 countries in the ASEAN region.
In 2023, the country had 7,919 newly established logistics enterprises; to date, the whole market has more than 5,000 logistics enterprises. Some enterprises have demonstrated their regional and international competitiveness. Vietnam ranks first in ASEAN in the number of enterprises licensed to transport by sea to and from the United States.
In the first 9 months of 2024, nearly 6,500 newly registered enterprises in the logistics sector nationwide, with a total registered capital of 36.55 trillion VND and a total registered number of nearly 28,900 employees, an increase of 13.5% in the number of enterprises, an increase of 18.3% in the number of employees, but a decrease of 11.3% in registered capital compared to the same period in 2023.
In general, besides some logistics companies with stable and impressive growth, small and medium-sized logistics enterprises recorded a decline in business results, losses and even withdrew from the market.
Recently, Vietnam has been actively researching free trade zones around the world. This is a type of economic zone that can bring many benefits to Vietnam, contributing to the promotion of logistics services. Currently, Vietnam does not have a free trade zone.
The Vietnam Logistics Forum has been organized annually by the Ministry of Industry and Trade since 2013. This year's forum aims to promote logistics enterprises to apply advanced and modern technology in supply chain operations; find solutions to improve competitiveness for Ba Ria-Vung Tau province and the Southeast region; and especially create an environment for connecting enterprises, investors and management agencies to develop Vietnam logistics.
With the theme “Free trade zones, breakthrough solutions to promote logistics growth,” the Forum wants to send a message that Vietnam encourages and attracts the development of free trade zones, aiming to turn Vietnam into a strong country in logistics, contributing to promoting the country’s industrialization and modernization, especially in the era of national development.
At the plenary session, delegates enthusiastically discussed the development situation of logistics; potential, strengths; mechanisms, policies, and orientations for the development of Vietnam's logistics.
In particular, delegates had many presentations proposing orientations for Vietnam's logistics development to reach out to the new era; Vietnamese logistics enterprises before the turning point of the era; experiences, trends in logistics development and free trade zones - opportunities, recommendations for Vietnam's logistics industry...
Delegates proposed solutions to promote the formation of free trade zones, international transit ports, building a fleet of container ships, and a fleet of specialized cargo aircraft.
At the same time, promote international cooperation, build strong Vietnamese logistics enterprises, strongly develop transport infrastructure, warehouses, innovate technology, train and improve human resources in the logistics industry, and develop public-private partnership models in the logistics sector.
Along with that is perfecting the legal framework, having policies to encourage foreigners to develop Vietnamese logistics such as tax policies, visas, etc.
Speaking at the Forum, assessing the role and potential for logistics development, the Prime Minister emphasized that in recent times, awareness of logistics development in Vietnam has been raised; the legal framework, mechanisms and policies have continued to be improved.
Logistics infrastructure is developing rapidly with many large, modern projects, promoting a reasonable structure, harmoniously connecting transportation methods, including traffic systems, airports, seaports, electricity infrastructure, Internet waves; promoting the exploitation and development of marine space, outer space, underground space, etc.
Considering that there are still institutional constraints, some areas such as infrastructure and public-private partnership models are still limited, the Prime Minister said that the number of logistics enterprises continues to increase. Logistics development has a more positive trend, promoting the diversification of transportation methods, gradually reducing dependence on road transport; human resource development has been promoted, many international rankings of Vietnam's logistics have been improved...
Recognizing, appreciating and congratulating the efforts and important results in the remarkable development of the logistics system, contributing significantly to the overall achievements of the country, the Prime Minister frankly pointed out the limitations and shortcomings in development such as the limited awareness of the role of logistics in building Vietnam into a global freight hub; logistics costs in Vietnam are still high.
The scale of the logistics industry compared to the scale of the economy, the market and the world is still low; the human resources for state management of logistics are still lacking and weak. Logistics enterprises are not yet strong in development, lacking mechanisms; the connection between transport modes and warehouses is still lacking; digital transformation and technology application in handling the entire logistics chain are not many...
3 goals, 7 tasks to develop Vietnam logistics
Analyzing the world situation, with the viewpoint of "creativity to fly high, innovation to reach far, integration to develop" and determining that logistics development is an objective requirement, a strategic choice, and a priority for national development, the Prime Minister pointed out 3 goals and 7 tasks for logistics development.
To contribute to the country's double-digit GDP growth next year, it is necessary to reduce logistics costs from 18% to 15% in 2025; increase the scale of logistics in GDP from 10% to 15%, striving to reach 20%; increase the scale of Vietnam's logistics in the world's logistics scale from 0.4% to 0.5%, striving to reach 0.6%; the growth rate of the logistics industry from 14-15% to 20%.
The Prime Minister pointed out that it is necessary to raise awareness of the position, role and importance of logistics in the country's development process, especially with Vietnam being the center of the Asia-Pacific region, to fully exploit the country's unique potential, outstanding opportunities and competitive advantages.
Institutional breakthroughs and institutional improvements for the logistics industry to develop in accordance with the three goals, contributing to the country achieving double-digit growth, bringing the country into a new era, an era of national growth, and the country developing richly and prosperously.
Developing modern and smooth logistics infrastructure, reducing input costs, increasing product competitiveness, including promoting and developing aviation, maritime and high-speed railways.
Building smart governance, high-quality human resources; promoting logistics diplomacy must also promote and modernize domestic logistics.
Building and developing a free trade nation; closely connecting air, sea, rail, inland waterway and highway transport modes to connect the world's free trade zones and connect the international transport system.
On that basis, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested ministries, branches and localities, based on their functions and tasks, to urgently focus on building a free trade nation; perfecting the Vietnam Logistics Services Development Strategy; and building international free trade zones.
Emphasizing that the Government, with its role as a creator, focuses on building institutions, strategies, planning, and plans; creating mechanisms to mobilize resources, creating a development environment, and designing monitoring and inspection tools, the Prime Minister requested localities to increase their proactiveness, self-reliance, and autonomy in logistics development, with the spirit of "locality decides, locality does, locality is responsible."
Enterprises enhance their autonomy, participate in proposing and contributing to institutional building, with the motto of "harmonizing the interests of the State, people and enterprises; well resolving the relationship between the market, the State and society, "harmonizing interests, sharing risks."
Stating that Vietnam's foreign policy is independence, self-reliance, diversification, multilateralization, being a friend, a reliable partner, a responsible member of the international community for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the world; our country is promoting 3 strategic breakthroughs, creating the best conditions for businesses to develop sustainably, the Prime Minister called on foreign organizations and businesses to cooperate and invest in Vietnam in the spirit of "listening and understanding together; sharing vision and action together; working together, enjoying together, winning together and developing together."
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh believes that with this important initial step and foundation, Vietnam's logistics industry will join the general momentum of the whole country, entering a new period of development, an era of national growth, in which Ba Ria-Vung Tau is one of the leading localities in developing logistics and energy in the country./.
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