Taking advantage of opportunities from EVFTA to promote the development of Vietnam"s logistics industry

In fact, in addition to opportunities and potentials, Vietnamese logistics industries also face many new challenges brought by the EVFTA, requiring Vietnamese logistics enterprises to have solutions to improve capacity, simultaneously while maintaining the home-field advantage during the implementation of the EVFTA.

As part of a series of events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Belgium, on June 12, the Trade Office and Embassy of Vietnam in Belgium coordinated with the Belgian-Vietnamese Alliance, the Center for Trade Promotion, and the Vietnam Embassy in Belgium. Flanders Trade and Investment Promotion organize a periodical program "Vietnam to You - Vietnamese Roadshow" in Antwerp - Belgium's largest port city with the theme "Promoting port-logistics cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium". to connect the Asia- Europe region".


Attending the program were Mr. Jan Jambon, Premier of Flanders region, Mr. Nguyen Van Thao, Ambassador of Vietnam to Belgium and the EU, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hue, Chairman of the Association of Ports, Waterways and Continental Shelf of Vietnam, and more than 30 businesses. Belgian logistics and shipping industry; Representatives of the Maritime Administration, the Ministry of Transport, the Maritime Corporation, Xuan Cau Group (the investor of Lach Huyen port), and Vingroup (the investor of Vung Ang port) attended online and shared information from Vietnam and called for cooperation in the field of ports - logistics.

At the seminar, Mr. Nguyen Van Thao - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to the Kingdom of Belgium said that: Vietnam's geostrategic location creates great advantages in shipping and great opportunities for the industry. Shipping and logistics come from 16 free trade agreements, including EVFTA.

Ambassador Nguyen Van Thao said that this year is the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Belgium to have cooperation in seaports and logistics.

Mr. Jan Jambon - Premier of Flander highly appreciated the program and emphasized the port-logistics cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium as one of the important and important activities in promoting economic cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium as well as through Belgium-Vietnam cooperation to connect ASEAN and EU regions.

Impressed with Vietnam's economic growth and the prospect of cooperation between the two countries, Mr. Jan Jambon announced his plan to lead a business delegation from the Flanders region to visit and seek cooperation opportunities in September this year.

Also at the seminar, the speakers shared a lot of information and experiences about Vietnam's seaport system and the development process of Vietnam's port system to 2030 with a vision to 2050; opportunities and challenges for Vietnam's port and logistics system; cooperation in the field of ports, shipping as well as logistics.

Representatives of Belgian businesses such as ICELOFT (a logistics company with large investments in Vietnam) and DEEPC (Hai Phong port investment company) shared opportunities from port cooperation, sea transportation, and logistics. 

According to the Multilateral Trade Policy Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, in order to respond to challenges and take advantage of opportunities from the EVFTA, Vietnam's logistics industry needs more synchronous solutions from the initiative of enterprises to government support policies.

Along with that, businesses need to better understand the commitments to open up logistics services to identify new risks in competition and change thinking about the logistics industry, thereby optimizing business operations.

At the same time, the orientation and support policies of the Government and local agencies will be strengthened to improve competitiveness in the logistics industry, in the operation of enterprises in general, and in taking advantage of opportunities from the EVFTA agreement in particular.

Recently, Vietnamese goods exported to the EU are enjoying great advantages from the EVFTA, however, some limitations of logistics - logistics have partly affected the opportunities from the EVFTA. It is known that the Trade Office and the Embassy of Vietnam are focusing on promoting cooperation in the field of seaports and logistics between Vietnam and Belgium, Vietnam, and Luxembourg to create better competitiveness for Vietnamese goods.