On August 21st, 2015, Danang Investment Promotion Center (IPC Da Nang) advised the Danang People's Committee to host the Seminar on "Investment promotion and development of logistics sector in Danang". Mr. Phung Tan Viet, Vice Chairman of Danang People's Committee; Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy General Director of Import – Export Agency of Ministry of Industry and Trade; Mr. Bui Thien Thu, Deputy Head of the Vietnam Maritime Administration and more than 120 representatives of related government agencies, investment promotion agencies, international organizations, and logistics associations from Japan, Thailand and Laos attended this seminar.
With an aim to developing and establishing a logistics service supply chain in the Central Region, the Seminar provided a forum for Danang government and businesses to discuss on challenges, evaluate the city's potential and development orientation, and suggest solutions to develop logistics services in Danang. In addition, the Seminar was a great opportunity for business match making .
In his opening speech, Vice Chairman iet emphasized the importance of logistics sector in the development of Danang's service sector in particular and Danang's socio-economic development in general. He pledged that the city government would actively support businesses to overcome challenges and develop a high-quality logistics system and other supply chains.
According to the experts, Danang City has many advantages to develop logistics sector. For example, Danang Port is a strategic cargo, container and passenger port in the Central Region and is the end point of the East – West Economic Corridor (EWEC) connecting Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Danang also lies conveniently on the north-south transportation axis of land route, rail, sea and air routes, connecting the city with major domestic and regional markets. However, Danang's logistics sector still does not live up to its potential. Businesses pointed out a lot of shortcomings of the local logistics services. For instance, many companies have problems with the administrative procedures; most logistics companies in Danang are limited in scope, providing single service, lacking in connectivity to create a synchronous supply chain. In addition, the current logistics human resource does not meet businesses' demands in terms of experience and skills. The transportation infrastructure is not good enough and poorly-managed… In order to develop this sector, Danang should speed up the implementation of cross border transport agreements, reduce road traffic control to expedite transportation, apply modern fleet management system, simplify customs procedures, establish cold supply chain and improve logistics human resources.
Concluding the Seminar, Vice Chairman Viet expressed that the city planned to accelerate the development of this sector to develop Danang into the regional and national logistics hub in the coming time.
Within the framework of the Seminar, there were other activities such as the Seminar on sharing experiences in training and developing logistics human resource, field trip to Danang Port, and Exhibition on the city's logistics sector.
Translated by Hong Hanh – IPC Danang