The DHL Global Connectedness Index (GCI) 2020 is jointly released by the US’s New York University Stern School of Business and logistics giant DHL Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam was ranked fifth interms of global trade connectedness last year, up five places from the previousranking in 2017, according to a report jointly released by the US’s New YorkUniversity Stern School of Business and logistics giant DHL.
Overall, Vietnam was the top ranked lower-middle-incomecountry, at 38th among 169 countries and territories worldwide inthe DHL Global Connectedness Index (GCI) 2020. The GCI measures each country’sglobal connectedness based both on the size of its international flows relativeto the size of its domestic economy (depth) and the extent to which itsinternational flows are distributed globally or more narrowly focused(breadth).
The report found that the depth leaders, or the economieswith the highest proportions of flows crossing national borders, are Singapore,Hong Kong (China), Belgium, the Netherlands, and Estonia. The breadthchampions, or the countries with the most global flow patterns, are the UnitedKingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, Israel, and the Republic of Korea.
According to the report, Vietnam was particularly strongin depth, where it was the top outperformer, though it also outperformed onbreadth. The country’s best performance was on the trade pillar, where itranked fifth overall, the report said.
The report noted that Vietnam has become a seriouscompetitor to China not only in textiles manufacturing, but also increasinglyin high tech products.
It also put Vietnam among the 10 countries with the largestoutperformance, which include Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Netherlands,Malta, the United Arab Emirates, Mozambique, Hungary, and Thailand.
It said half of these top 10 countries, Cambodia,Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand, are located in Southeast Asia, aregion where countries tend to have unusually high trade depth. Southeast Asiancountries benefit from linkages with wider Asian supply chain networks as wellas ASEAN policy initiatives promoting regional economic integration.
Shoeib Reza Choudhury, CEO of DHL Express Vietnam, saidVietnam was one of the top destinations of companies seeking to diversify theirmanufacturing base, drawn by the young labour force, trade pacts and socialstability./.
VNA
