(Yicai Global) Nov. 21 -- Two units in the international business segment of Chinese courier giant YTO Express Group have penned a cooperative agreement with Vietnam's VietJet Air to develop its business in China's southern neighbor, online media Kankanews reported.

The collaboration aims to develop the country as a logistics transshipment hub for China's exports to other parts of Asia, the US and Europe.

Hanoi-based VietJet Air and the Hangzhou Yuantong Freight Aeronautics and YTO Express (International) Holdings units of Shanghai Yuantong Jiaolong Investment Development Group have become preferred partners on international route services and will coordinate their respective navigation networks under the agreement, per the report.

Taking to the skies in 2007 as Vietnam's first private airline, VietJet Air is also the country's budget carrier.

Shanghai-based transport conglomerate Yuantong Jiaolong Investment Development Group has express delivery, logistics and aviation segments. Its YTO Express subsidiary is one of China's largest courier companies. Its YTO International unit has built up more than 50 transit stations in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan and 11 other countries as the group muscles its way into ever more global markets.

Editor: Ben Armour