World Logistics Passport (WLP) is one of 9 initiatives and 33 projects under the strategy of the Dubai Silk Road approved by the Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council- Crown Prince H.H Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad on March 2, 2019 and officially started on October 13, 2019. The initiative was officially announced by the UAE Ministry of Economy and introduced at the 50th Davos World Economic Forum, Switzerland in January 2020 with participation of many countries, including Vietnam. The initiative has received attention from many countries worldwide.

Why WLP?

WLP is designed to reduce non-tariff barriers in international trade by reducing time and logistics service operating costs. Initially, WLP’s targets were developing countries with fast-growing economies in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Its goal in to provide maximum flexibility and efficiency to business having operations in Dubai or having transit operations through Dubai. WLP is to help countries in Africa, Asia, South America and Central America diversify their trade in existing products and increase market share for key commodities among developing economies.

WLP is a global initiative private-sector led and designed to smooth global trade flows, opening up market access abilities and economic efficiency to its members. The program allows free participation and opens to everyone. Supported by important logistics and transport partners as airports, seaports and customs, WLP provides financial and non-financial benefits to merchants and freight forwarders to increase their trade. WLP - the world’s first loyal global cargo transport-benefits enterprises by reducing their supply chain costs and ensures faster and more efficient goods transport, which is achieved through access to benefits as faster clearance customs and priority processing, which results in the increase of 2% - 3% of trade values in the period of two years.

How many countries are participating WLP?

Until June 8, 2021, the global WLP network has had 23 countries registered to participate, including 6 Latin American countries- Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay; 9 African countries- Senegal, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa and Botswana; 8 Asian countries- Kazakhstan, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Israel; and Dubai UAE. There have been participation of large multinational corporations including UPS, Pfizer, Sony, Johnson& Johnson, and LG.

How Does WLP Work?

The WLP loyalty program is based on a partnership between traders, freight forwarders and local entities to provide additional trade in exchange for direct benefits. It is structured as a four-Tier Membership scheme: White, Silver, Gold and Platinum, with different levels of incentives. Every year, Tiers membership is re-evaluated based on trade performance, and WLP Members can be downgraded or upgraded by up to one Tier.

To unlock Tiers, traders and freight forwarders need to reach 5% growth for Silver members, outperform market growth by 10% for Gold members and 20% for Platinum members. As they unlock new Tiers, WLP Members enjoy a wider range of benefits and greater time and cost reductions.

At the local Hub level, the WLP governance is divided into three pillars. The WLP Key Partners are entities, typically customs, airport/port authorities and airlines, which register as benefit providers in of May 2021 and registered to become a member of WLP. Accordingly, VLA is a coordinating unit of the WLP’s program in Vietnam (Hub), representing a private sector. DLW will connect VLA’s members participating in WLP with the global network of WLP’s members to enjoy all benefits from WLP. Currently, DWP is discussing with organizations of airports, seaports and customs for the Hub network completion in Vietnam.

The UAE is an important gateway for Vietnamese goods to be transshipped into the Middle East, Africa, South America and Europe by seaway and airway. The UAE is Vietnam’s largest trading partnership in the West Asia, the total two-way turnover between Vietnam and the UAE in 2020 reached USD 4.3bn, of which Vietnam’s export was USD 3.9bn, trade surplus was USD 3.5bn with key products as electronics and components, machinery and equipment, footwear, textiles, vegetables, pepper and rice… Joining WLP, Vietnamese business’s products and services going through Dubai and other Hubs in the WLP system will be facilitated and supported in terms of customs clearance, air tax exemption, inspection time reduction and will be quickly loaded, cutting storage time up to 48 hours. In addition, goods can be cleared before arriving at ports, which is expected to save time and costs for each clearance and also shorten operating time as well.