Vietnam, Laos eye great logistics connectivity potential: experts

Lieutenant Colonel Bui Van Quy, Deputy General Director of Saigon Newport Corporation addresses the event (Photo: VNA)

An international conference on the strengthening of regional connectivity and development of the East-West logistics corridors was held in Vientiane on November 4, drawing representatives from a number of ministries and agencies of Vietnam and Laos as well as logistics associations, experts and more than 80 enterprises from different countries.

According to the organising committee, located in the centre of the route connecting China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar, Laos has great potential to become a transport hub of the region.

The Kunming-Vientiane railway route, the waterway transport connections on the Mekong Delta River, as well as roads and borders with Vietnam and Thailand are also among good conditions for Laos to develop the East-West logistic corridor, experts held.

Somvixay Vongthirath, Vice Director of the Trade Promotion Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Laos, highlighted the importance of logistics in promoting trade and import-export activities of Laos.

Somvixay Vongthirath, Vice Director of the Trade Promotion Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Laos speaks at the event (Photo: VNA)

A landlocked country, yet Laos has received support from Vietnam in maritime transport, he said, adding that in the future, Laos will continue to strengthen border trade cooperation and logistics connections with Vietnam.

Bui Van Quy, Deputy General Director of Saigon Newport Corporation, expressed his hope that through the conference, logistics firms of Laos will recognise the great potential of the regional market and their advantages to expand operations to nearby countries, affirming the role Laos plays in the common development of the ASEAN Community.

He underscored the huge opportunities for Vietnam and Laos to beef up logistics cooperation through the East-West logistics corridors, underlining that his firm hopes to make contributions to the development of Laos’ transport sector by developing solutions to connect it with the ecosystem of seaports and inland container depots, warehouse and logistics services of Saigon Newport Corporation.

At the event, participants discussed the situation and potential in logistics development as well as market connection in the region, and difficulties that Lao logistics enterprises are facing. Representatives of the Lao International Truck and Forwarder Association (LITFA) said that the association will develop strategic partnership with logistics businesses and associations in regional countries, especially Vietnam.

Participants also pointed to existing problems in import-export activities in the region.

Following the conference, the Saigon Newport Corporation, LITFA, and the Association of Vietnamese Businesses in Laos signed a memorandum of understanding on their cooperation./.

VNA