DHL Vietnam has shrugged off the idea of setting up a totally foreign-owned fi rm in favour of expanding co-operation with the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT).

VNPT started acting as agents for DHL in 1988 with the fi rst bilateral deal inked in Ho Chi Minh City. DHL got permission to set up a joint venture with a 51 percent stake with the largest telecommunications group in Vietnam in January 2007 in order to meet evergrowing market demands. Vietnam has allowed a foreign company to hold a 51 percent stake in an express delivery joint venture as part of its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). However, wholly foreign-owned express companies have to wait until 2012 to go into operation. VNPT has a wide agent network covering 52 cities and provinces across Vietnam.

DHL has already kicked off an US$14 million project to build two major service centres in southern Dong Nai province and Hanoi and to purchase a new fl eet of vehicles. The move is expected to help DHL rival around 20 other foreign market players including TNT, Fedex, UPS and JNE.

TNT has just brought to service the trans-Asia road network (ARN) in Vietnam after adding 6 million euros to its project, which started in 2005.