BEIJING: As China enjoys booming business with Vietnam, the government is working on improving services to enhance border trade. He Weiwei went to a border trade zone in Dongxing city, in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to see what services are being offered.
This is the Dongxing border trade zone, located near the Beilun River separating China and Vietnam. Boats are busy carrying products between the two sides.
Standing on the bank of the Beilun River, you can see Vietnam on the other side. This border trade zone was established in 2009, and since then it has becomes an efficient and convenient trading center for Chinese and Vietnamese businesses. A variety of goods are being traded here every day, from agricultural products and sea food, to all kinds of daily necessities.
China exempts tariffs on goods worth less than 8000 yuan per person, per day in the zone. At present, over 30 thousand border residentsare doing business here. Local authorities are working on facilitating customs services.
“Since June, we’ve started to operate a new Customs information management system, to enable businesspeople to declare their goods online, which greatly shortens the border trade clearance time,” Jiang Biao, deparment director of Dongxing Border Trade Administration, said.
Thanks to the booming business, the daily imports and exports in the border trade zone reaches 90 million yuan. The large volume of goods all goes through the settlement center, which is the only one of its kind in China.
“The Sino-Vietnamese border trade settlement center was founded in May 2012, and it provides 24-hour financial services for importers and exporters,” Xiang Jiancheng, director of Dongxing Sino-Vietnameses Border Trade Settlement Center, said.
Taking advantage of such a convenience, there is no need for cash, and all deals are being supervised and their safety guaranteed.
As an important gateway in south China, Dongxing city aims to offer a better business environment to encourage economic exchanges.