Representatives from the Vietnamese Ministries of Finance, Planning and Investment, Industry and Trade, Transport and Foreign Affairs and the Government’s Office, and the WB experts group attended the session.

WB experts said that Vietnam has approved a national action plan on trade and logistics facilitation based on four pillars, including the simplification of customs procedures and professional management, the enhancement of trade infrastructure capacity and connection quality, the development of a competitive logistics sector, and the increase of coordination between Government agencies and businesses. 

They suggested Vietnam exert comprehensive impacts on logistics value chains and create favourable conditions for foreign trade. 

Although Vietnam has increased transport connection, the country’s multi-modal transportation has yet to catch up with national development, they said. 

At the same time, the production of goods has outpaced the national gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate and infrastructure has failed to meet demands of goods transportation, they added. 

Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade show that during 2016-2020, it needs about US$24 billion for transport infrastructure. However, the State can afford only one third of the amount. 

Given this, the WB asked the Vietnamese Government to mobilise private capital and credit trade in order to raise the efficiency of transport infrastructure. 

The WB experts also suggested the Vietnamese Government assign the National Committee on One-Stop-Shop Mechanism and Trade Facilitation to be in charge of logistics and call for the involvement of the private sector in the committee. 

Ousmane Dione said that the WB experts group will give advice and technical support to Vietnam while sharing international experience in trade and logistics facilitation. 

Deputy PM Hue said Vietnam is focusing on developing roads and railways along the North-South route without due attention to East-West and coastal routes.  

He called on the WB to take this issue into account, calculating its impacts at national, regional and international levels. 

The Vietnamese Government will call for the participation of the private sector in infrastructure development and  professional inspection over exports and imports under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model and, he said. 

The official urged the WB to help the Vietnamese Government with the framework, function, tasks and structure of the committee to facilitate trade, logistics and one-stop-shop model.

Source: vov.vn