Hanoi (VNA) ♛– Congestion of goods at northern border gates has gotten worse again over the past days.

Although border provinces carried out numerous measures and discussions with the Chinese authorities to promote customs clearance, problems have remained that need stronger engagement from many parties to deal with the problem. On February 23, the Minister of Industry and Trade signed three official letters to the Secretary of the Communist Party of China Committee in Guangxi province, the Minister of Commerce, and the General Director of the General Administration of Customs of China, asking for their relevant agencies to coordinate with Vietnamese localities to work out measures for accelerating customs clearance at border gates, to prevent goods from being congested there. Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Foreign Trade Agency at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, told the press that there are 76 border gates along the border with China, including seven international border gates, six national ones, and the remainders being auxiliary gates or border crossings. The shipment of goods through international and national border gates is classified as official export, while through auxiliary border gates and crossings as small-scale export. Official export is conducted mainly after contracts between Vietnamese sellers and Chinese buyers have been formed with strict and long-term articles. Meanwhile, the export through auxiliary border gates or border crossings often doesn’t have contracts, and traders will bring goods to the other side of the border and sell there if they meet buyers, he noted. Therefore, during the harvest season of farm produce, especially dragon fruit and watermelon, lorries flock to border gates. The number can reach up to 800-1,000 per gate per day, triggering some of the congestion seen in the recent past. However, as all those ports of entry are located in mountainous areas, their area, infrastructure and customs clearance capacity remain modest. In addition, as COVID-19 cases in Vietnam increased, China also requested the team of lorry drivers working in the shared zones between the two countries be suspended, which led to a decrease in the number of trucks cleared, Hai pointed out. Facing that fact, Lang Son province recently decided to halt receiving trucks of agricultural products coming to its border gates until March 5. The official stressed the important role of local authorities, who know their provinces’ people and traders best. Localities such as Bac Giang, Son La, and Hai Duong have set many good examples for people to sell farm produce, he said, elaborating that they have created favourable conditions for foreign traders to survey, make deals and package products. After that, goods brought to border gates won’t have to undergo these procedures anymore, but only need to wait for customs clearance. Authorities can also instruct farmers and traders on how to meet packaging and labelling standards so that products won’t be rejected due to small faults after arriving at border gates. Once local authorities, especially leaders of Party committees and administrations, pay due attention and take action, it will be easier for ministries and central agencies to conduct business matching, boost trade promotion, and provide information and guidance to farmers and traders about food safety and goods quality control, he went on. He also underlined the necessity of building and expanding border gate and logistics infrastructure, noting that cold and cool storage warehouses are needed to preserve agricultural products for a longer time. Post-harvest processing is also important to create products with higher value regardless of seasons, helping improve farm produce quality and ease the pressure on border gates, Hai added./.