Actively exchanging information to recover clearance activities at Tan Thanh and Coc Nam border gates

Accordingly, the People's Committee of Lang Son province requested the Dong Dang - Lang Son Economic Zone Authority, the Border Defence force, the Lang Son Customs and relevant competent authorities of Guangxi province (China) to continue to discuss solutions in order to restore the method of import and export goods delivery at Tan Thanh - Po Chai border gates and cargo clearance activities at Coc Nam - Lung Vai border gates. At the same time, it is suggested that the Chinese authority should not carry out Covid-19 testing for Vietnamese full-time drivers entering China.

Dong Dang - Lang Son economic zone authority said that the unit received a response letter No. 204 (2021) from the People's Government of Pingxiang Shi, Guangxi, China.

The letter stated that due to pandemic prevention policy, the Chinese authority must strengthen the implementation of pandemic prevention measures at the dedicated road for transporting goods in the area of ​​​​the landmark 1088/2 1089 (Tan Thanh, Vietnam – Po Chai, China).

According to the Chinese authority, the implementation of specialized drivers for vehicle delivery and receipt under the new model was effective in reducing the risk of infection entering the border.

Moreover, since August 18, the amount of goods carrying out cargo clearance has been basically stable and even increased a little compared to when this model was not deployed. Therefore, the method of delivery and receipt of import and export goods at the Po Chai-Tan Thanh border gate continues to be implemented following the current model.

The number of goods cleared at Tan Thanh border gate is still very limited. Photo: Danh Tùng

Currently, the Chinese side is accelerating upgrading and improving the entry and exit channel for drivers at the old gate of Po Chai. Once completed, a dedicated Vietnamese driver would be arranged to enter and exit through this channel in order to solve the problem of Vietnamese cargo trucks which did not have goods to transport, were remaining on the Chinese side, helping to speed up cargo clearance.

As for Coc Nam border gate (Vietnam) - Lung Vai (China), People's Government of Pingxiang Shi said that facing the current pandemic, Pingxiang Shi continues to seriously implement anti-pandemic measures at Coc Nam - Lung Vai border gate, speed up the completion of the construction of a hotel for isolating specialized drivers when entering the country. After completing pandemic prevention and control measures, they would immediately restore the clearance activities of imports and exports through Lung Vai - Coc Nam.

The People's Government of Pingxiang Shi emphasized that from September 17, 2021, the Chinese authority would carry out Covid-19 testing for Vietnamese full-time drivers entering China with a fee of 20 yuan/time.

In addition, the Chinese authority said that, currently, Vietnamese fruits imported into China must be inspected, leading to limited clearance capacity at the border gate. Therefore, to improve clearance efficiency, Pingxiang Shi authority suggested that Vietnam should take the example of Protocol on testing and quarantine of Thailand’s tropical fruits imported into China, signed between Thailand and China to actively promote the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam to coordinate with General Department of Chinese Customs to accelerate the signing of a bilateral agreement, reducing the inspection rate of Vietnamese fruit entering China to 30%.

Regarding the implementation of Covid-19 testing for Vietnamese specialized drivers, Dong Dang - Lang Son Economic Zone Authority said that it was inappropriate because Lang Son had already performed two vaccinations and Covid-19 tested by PCR method every three days for all full-time drivers. Therefore, to limit costs and time for Vietnamese businesses, Dong Dang - Lang Son Economic Zone Authority suggested that Chinese authority should not carry out tests before reaching the agreement of both parties.

In order to ensure good implementation of pandemic prevention and control and facilitate cargo clearance of import and export goods through border gates in Lang Son province, Dong Dang - Lang Son Economic Zone Authority proposed People's Committee of Lang Son province to direct the Department of Foreign Affairs to study and supplement the contents of the proposal to restore the method of delivery and receipt of import and export goods at the Tan Thanh - Po Chai border gate and restore the operation of cargo clearance through Coc Nam - Lung Vai border gate in discussions between the leaders of the People's Committee of Lang Son province (Vietnam) and the leaders of Sung Ta city, Guangxi (China).