Handling activities at Hai Phong Port, Hai Phong city (Photo: VietnamPlus)
Hanoi (VNA) – The launch of the World Logistics Passport Programme (WLP) initiative in Vietnam is expected to help increase trade turnover between Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – the largest trade partner of the Southeast Asian nation in the Middle East region.
Addressing a ceremony to launch the Dubai-led WLP initiative in Vietnam held in Hanoi on February 28, UAE Ambassador to Vietnam Bader Abdulla Al Matrooshi said the WLP will help lift trade between the two countries through increasing economic and commercial benefits for its signatories.
Abdulla Alsuwaidi, WLP Manager and Lead of Partnerships and Hubs, said Vietnam will be an important logistics and trade hub of the WLP network, given the country’s strategic position as a transshipment and manufacturing hub of the region.
The UAE is Vietnam's largest trading partner in the Middle East with two-way trade hitting 8 billion USD in 2022.
According to the Vietnamese Trade Office in the UAE, the nation will serve as a gateway for Vietnamese businesses to step up exports to the Middle East and Africa. Launching or optimising direct transport routes between the two sides will help cut transportation costs significantly.
The WLP initiative is developed on the basis of lessons learned from Dubai's success more than 20 years ago to become an effective global hub.
It is a global, private sector-led initiative designed to smoothen the flow of global trade, unlock market access, and provide economic efficiencies to members.
Enabled by key logistics partners such as airports, ports, and customs, the WLP offers financial and non-financial benefits to traders and freight forwarders as a reward for increasing their trade.
The WLP, the world’s first global freight loyalty scheme, benefits businesses by reducing their supply chain costs and ensuring that goods will be moved faster and more efficiently.
The seminar to launch the Dubai-led World Logistics Passport (WLP) initiative in Vietnam and discuss the possibility of strengthening cooperation in logistics between Vietnam and UAE. (Photo: VietnamPlus)
Vietnam is listed among the 29 regional logistics and trade hubs of the programme from May 2021, with five businesses becoming its partners.
According to Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA) Nguyen Tuong, the application of the world logistics passport accounts for 47% of the global trade turnover, with the participation from hubs across all continents.
The WLP is to facilitate trade, reduce procedural time, and cut logistics and related costs, he said.
Tran Thanh Hai, deputy director of the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), highlighted the significance of the programme, saying that facilitating trade and strengthening national competitiveness have been a focus of not only the industry and trade sector but the whole logistics ecosystem of the country.
Representatives of the WLP, organisations and businesses sign a partner framework agreement to implement the programme in Vietnam. (Photo: VietnamPlus)
He expressed the hope that with the launch of the WLP initiative in Vietnam, the domestic logistics sector will reap more successes, optimising and sharing the interest of the programme amid extensive international integration.
At the event, the WLP signed agreements to implement the initiative with Vietnamese partners, including the Vietnam Airlines Corporation, Railway Transport and Trade JSC (RATRACO), T&Y Superport Vinh Phuc JSC, Viet Nam Shippers' Council (VNSC), and Vietnam Coffee Cocoa Association (Vicofa)./.
