MARD team inspects import-export activities in Lang Son

(LSO) – A working team from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) led by Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh on September 17 visited Lang Son and had a working session with representatives of the provincial People’s Committee on the agro-forestry-fisheries import-export situation through border gates in the province.

The working session was attended by Ho Tien Thieu, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, as well as leaders of a number of departments and sectors of the province.

Over the years, the Lang Son People’s Committee has directed and managed the implementation of mechanisms and policies regarding import-export activities through the border gates in a flexible manner, creating favourable conditions for the calling of enterprises to invest in Lang Son.

To Thien Thieu, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee addresses the session.

In 2018, the province saw the total import-export revenue of 4.855 billion USD, surpassing the plan by 0.7 percent, but dropping 7.5 percent over the same period in 2017. In the first eight months of this year, the revenue reached 2.880billion USD, completing 55.1 percent of the yearly target, representing a fall of 7.1 percent year on year.

However, import-export of agricultural products has faced a number of difficulties due to the incomprehensive infrastructure system that fails to meet requirements. The Chinese side has only allowed the official import of farm produce through border gates, causing the congestion of goods. Alongside, changes in mechanisms and policies of China with a stricter policy in origin and quality of farm produce from Vietnam have also affected the export revenue.

MARD Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh speaks at the working session.

For agro-forestry and fishery products, since May 1last year, China has strengthened and tightened the management over origin of imported fruits, especially those from Thailand and Vietnam.

Besides, China’s Guangxi has also adopted the food safety regulations in Zhuang Autonomous Region since June 1 this year to strengthen the management and supervision over the quality of farm produce and food, including fruits, agricultural products and foodstuff from Vietnam. As a result, Lang Son suffered a year-on-year drop of 19.2 percent in export revenue in the first eight months of 2018.

The MARD delegation inspect the special road for import-export of goods through Tan Thanh border gate.

At the working session, Thieu proposed that the MARD submit to the Government adjustments in regulations on import-export activities which are applied for border gates, while launching activities of a special road of Tan Thanh (Vietnam) – Po Chai (China). It is necessary to apply measures to increase the export of Vietnamese farm produce to China, he proposed.

Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh agreed with the province’s proposals, pledging that the ministry will summarise and report to the Government for consideration. He asked the province to continue guiding and supporting businesses to export farm produce through border gates in the province, while connecting enterprises of Vietnam and China, and showing better performance in directing and managing the import-export of farm produce through the localities, thus removing obstacles in a timely manner for enterprises./.