Source: Xinhua News Agency
In July in southern Xinjiang, the banks of Zuojiang River are full of vitality. The Youyiguan Port located in Pingxiang City, Chongzuo, Guangxi is very dynamic. Goods such as electronic components, mechanical equipment, and textile products are sent to Vietnam through this port.
Transport vehicles clear customs at Pingxiang Friendship Pass Port in Guangxi. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Chi on August 18, 2021)
As one of the first companies to settle in Pingxiang Comprehensive Bonded Zone, Guangxi Huatai International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd. has witnessed the continuous innovation and facilitation level of the customs clearance mechanism at the Friendship Pass port. Keep improving. "The company has also benefited from the development of the port economy. Last year, the total import and export volume exceeded 14 billion yuan." said Cao Guanghua, deputy general manager of the company.
Since this year, Youyiguan Port has also innovatively implemented non-contact cargo transfer and customs clearance methods such as "drop and hang, hanging locker" to ensure the port's continued operation under special circumstances.
"Open the door and you will find Vietnam, take two steps and you will enter ASEAN ". In recent years, Chongzuo has given full play to its location advantages, continuously promoted the transformation and upgrading of the port economy, improved the level of open development along the border in an all-round, multi-level and diversified manner, and accelerated the construction of a modern southern Xinjiang gateway city open to ASEAN cooperation.
At the Pingxiang Railway Port, Guangxi Wuhua International Trading Co., Ltd. imports about 10 containers of cold chain fruits from Southeast Asian countries every day and continuously ships them to all parts of the country. Han Qiuyang, general manager of the company, said that thanks to the policy dividends and efficient and convenient railway transportation, customer orders and market conditions are stable and improving. "In the first quarter, the company imported approximately 18,000 tons of fruit, with an output value of more than 300 million yuan. The total import volume this year is expected to be There will be a breakthrough compared with previous years. "
A train loaded with fruits arrived in Pingxiang. (Photo courtesy of China Railway Nanning Bureau Group Co., Ltd.)
Faced with the complex and severe epidemic situation, the economy of Pingxiang Port still shows strong resilience. Shi Chunyan, deputy director of the Pingxiang Municipal Commerce and Port Administration Bureau, said that the import and export value of Youyiguan Port alone reached 324.2 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 32.72%.
In recent years, Chongzuo has vigorously promoted the construction of port infrastructure. A number of border ports, land passages, interconnection and other infrastructure projects such as the China Puzhai-Vietnam Thanh Thanh freight channel have been completed and put into use; cross-border highway logistics lines have been opened successively There are nearly 20 lines, reaching more than 20 major cities in ASEAN countries, further demonstrating the status of open land routes.
As port infrastructure continues to improve, cross-border trade grows rapidly, and the border trade processing industry has become one of the biggest "beneficiaries". In China's Longzhou County, the Shuikou Border Trade Poverty Alleviation Industrial Park built on the basis of China's Shuikou Port is booming.
Guangxi Yufeng Food Co., Ltd., which entered the park in 2019, imports a large amount of Chinese herbal medicine jelly grass from Vietnam every year, undergoes deep processing and sells it to various places. Huang Zhifeng, director of the company's office, said that based on the local good location and policy advantages, the company is planning a health industry manufacturing project with an output value of 1.5 billion yuan, extending from the processing of jelly grass to the integrated research and development of Southeast Asian specialty products.
Heavy trucks are waiting for customs clearance and export at Shuikou Port in Longzhou County. (Photo courtesy of Longzhou County Media Center)
Many border trade processing companies have taken root along the border, providing more jobs and stable sources of income for local people. In 2020, Guo Feng'e, who had worked in Guangdong, returned to Shuikou Town, Longzhou County, entered the workshop and became a worker, and has now been promoted to workshop supervisor. "In recent years, there have been more and more factories. Not only can I find a job at home, but I can also take care of the elderly and children, and my life has become more and more stable." Guo Feng'e said.
In recent years, riding on the "One Belt, One Road" and the construction of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, and with the support of a series of policies such as the "Revitalization Plan for the Left and Right River Revolutionary Old Areas", the opening-up vitality of the old areas has been accelerated.
The China-Thailand (Chongzuo) Industrial Park located in Chongzuo is a key transnational production capacity cooperation zone open to the development and opening of ASEAN. It has laid out many key industries such as sugar industry circular economy, pan-home furnishings, and new materials. At present, the park has introduced 185 enterprises and projects such as Thailand's Liangyi Group East Asia Sugar, the United States' Pris Inocon, and Nanfang Manganese Industry, and 116 have been officially put into operation.In 2021, the park's total industrial output value above designated size was 12.508 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.9%.
Pan-home furnishing park of China-Thailand (Chongzuo) Industrial Park. (Photo provided by interviewee)
Today’s Chongzuo has changed from the “end” of the border to the forefront of China’s opening up and cooperation with ASEAN. Zhang Zhao, director of the Chongzuo City Commerce and Port Administration Bureau, said that Chongzuo will further leverage its "border" advantages, do enough "border" articles, coordinate epidemic prevention and control and port customs clearance, continue to optimize the port business environment, and make every effort to promote Port revitalization, better services, high-level opening and high-quality development .
Reporter: Chen Yifan
