Vietnam and Laos are stepping up cooperation in trade, transport and logistics connectivity as both countries seek to strengthen supply chains and facilitate cross-border commerce, officials said at the Vietnam – Laos Logistics Business Forum 2026 held in Vientiane on May 26.

Big investment should be made to accelerate digital transformation in the logistics sector, which plays a pivotal role in Vietnam’s socio-economic landscape, creating significant value addition and contributing to the nation's import-export growth.

Applying technology in logistics and e-commerce will bring many benefits, thus optimising the efficiency of these two sectors, and contributing to reducing logistics costs for the entire economy, heard a workshop in Hanoi on May 16.

Amid economic uncertainties and fierce competition, improving connectivity between domestic and global logistics networks has become a pressing demand, experts said at a logistics forum with Asia-America 2023 held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) in Ho Chi Minh City on December 21.

Container shipping in Vietnam and Cambodia had the fastest port turnaround times in ASEAN in June 2022 with both countries scoring an average of 0.9 days, according to a World Bank (WB) report.

There has been great pressure on Vietnam's logistics industry to train, retrain and upgrade workers' knowledge as well as to keep up-to-date with international standards and measures, according to the Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA).

Vietnam is planning to raise the contribution of logistics services to its gross domestic product (GDP) to 5%-6% by 2025, according to a recent decision signed by the Prime Minister.