Flexible to implement solutions to create favorable conditions for agricultural product exports

– In the morning of June 2, the delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development led by Mr. Tran Thanh Nam, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, had a working session to capture the situation of import and export activities of agricultural products in general and fruit export in particular through border gates in Lang Son province. Mrs. Doan Thu Ha, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee chaired the meeting with the delegation.

In the first 5 months of 2021, the total import and export turnover of goods through the province reached US$1,960 million, increasing by 41% comparing with the same period in 2020. The export turnover reached over US$690 million, up 13.1. %. Particularly, the export turnover of dried and fresh fruits through the provincial border gates in the first 5 months of the year reached 335 million USD (mainly through Huu Nghi International Border Gate and Tan Thanh Border Gate).

In addition to the achieved results, in the past time, import-export activities, especially the export of fresh fruits, have encountered difficulties resulting in the customs clearance time, and at the same time, some fruits have not been able to be implemented customs clearance procedures.

The working team inspected the import and export of agricultural products at Huu Nghi International Border Gate

The reason is that China has increased the number of standards on quarantine of origin, origin and labels, and at the same time strictly controlled on quality standards, food hygiene and safety for agricultural products, imported fruits; some fruit export enterprises have not met the regulations and procedures for quarantine appraisal or lack of phytosanitary certificates; China temporarily suspends customs clearance at a number of auxiliary border gates, so the number of trucks carrying fruit and agricultural products for export is concentrated in the area of ​​​​Huu Nghi International Border Gate and Tan Thanh Border Gate causing local congestion and affecting the clearance of fruit goods.

At the meeting, the delegates discussed and clarified the difficulties in import-export activities over the time. At the same time, solutions to remove difficulties are discussed with the aim to improve customs clearance capacity and well perform epidemic prevention and control measures.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee stated that: Over the past time, the Provincial People’s Committee has directed branches, forces at the border gates and businesses to focus on synchronous and flexible measures to promote the import and export of goods through the provincial border gates. Especially in order to create favorable conditions for fruit exports, the Provincial People’s Committee has directed relevant sectors  nad branches to develop plans to manage, channelize and regulate cargo vehicles, in which priority is given to the agricultural products of litchi,  mango and jackfruit… At the same time, the provincial foreign affairs  activities are improved to deal with arising issues. Therefore, at this time, it is reported that trucks carrying fresh fruits are basically not congested.

The delegation checked the import and export situation of agricultural products at Tan Thanh Border Gate

Based on the site-visit, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development highly appreciated the solutions that Lang Son province has implemented in the past time to promote the customs clearance procedures for of agricultural products through the area.

The deputy minister affirmed: After the site-visit, the ministry will send a report to the Prime Minister in order to have a mechanism to support the province. At the same time, the ministry will advise the Government to continue working with China to promote the export of fruit and agricultural products.

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development hoped that at this time, Lang Son province would continue to flexibly implement solutions in time and maximize the export activities of some fresh fruits of localities. At the same time, it is important for the province to strictly implement Covid-19 safety measures at border gates.