Viettel and Nanning City signed the agreement. — Photos courtesy of Viettel

HÀ NỘI — Viettel Post (a member unit of Viettel Group) will deploy intermodal train services invested by Viettel and "customs clearance inspection" at 30 centers located deep in the interior of Việt Nam.

This was announced at a meeting between Chairman and General Director of Viettel Group - Major General Tào Đức Thắng and delegates from Nanning City government (China) led by Nong Sheng Wen - Secretary of Nanning City Party Committee. The two sides have discussed investment opportunities in logistics, trade, digital transformation, smart border gates and other potential fields.

The co-operation between Viettel Group and Nanning City in logistics and cross-border transport is expected to halve connection time between Nanning and Hà Nội to only 12 hours, optimally reducing logistics costs by at least 30 per cent. This optimisation will contribute to promoting trade in goods between the two countries, especially in agriculture and fisheries. 

The two sides have reached agreements in co-operation to establish the Việt Nam - China Association of Logistics and Trade Enterprises.

Viettel Post's logistics centre.

The completion of cross-border logistics infrastructure connecting Việt Nam and China will be the premise for Việt Nam to become a regional logistics centre, increasing the competitiveness of Vietnamese agriculture and fisheries in the Chinese market. The reduction in time and transportation costs compared to agricultural products from other countries is the key factor to this outcome. 

Wen said: "In recent years, Nanning City has become a important transit route between China and Asean, chosen by many Chinese and Asean businesses. This creates an urgency to upgrade transportation and logistics infrastructure to connect the two regions strongly and effectively." 

Thắng said: "Viettel Group will invest heavily in human, financial and technological resources to participate in building national logistics infrastructure - thus, contribute to making Việt Nam a regional and international logistics center, in addition to the two national infrastructure systems that Viettel has built on the largest scale in Việt Nam: telecommunications infrastructure and digital infrastructure.”

Viettel Post is the first enterprise in Việt Nam to sign a co-operation agreement with Nanning government - a logistics hub city connecting Vietnamese and Asian goods to mainland China and vice versa. 

In early March, Viettel Post signed an agreement with the government and businesses in Nanning and Pingxiang on the establishment of a representative office and the construction of a China - Asean agricultural product trading centre and logistics centre. — VNS