Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The northern border gates havebeen restored after three years of stagnation, helping Vietnam's import-export turnover with China throughthe northern border provinces increase by 242% in the first quarter of thisyear over the same period last year.

The General Department of Customs said that the total import andexport turnover with China across the northern border reached nearly 9.3billion USD in the first quarter of this year, up nearly three times over thesame period last year.

In the northern border provinces, most of the border gates thatwere closed in the last months of last year due to the Chinese implementationof measures to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic have now become busyagain.

Preliminary statistics from the Lang Son Customs Department showedthat border-gate customs units have received and processed 23,985 sets ofimport and export declarations with a turnover of 622.44 million USD by the endof March 14, an increase of 54.5% over the same period last year.

In which, the number of export goods declarations registered byenterprises with 10,560 sets of declarations, valued at 284.38 million USD, anincrease of 348.9% year-on-year.

In Cao Bang, import and export turnover through the locality alsogrew sharply, up to 60%, reaching 69.5 million USD. Notably, export turnoverrose by 214%.

Import and export turnover through Lao Cai internationalborder gate reached nearly 186 million USD in the first three months of thisyear.

Of this figure, exports reached 92.4 million USD, up 90.1% overthe same period last year. Imports reached 93.2 million USD, up 15.2%.

Notably, agricultural products are still the main export products,reaching a turnover of more than 71 million USD, up 63.2% year-on-year andaccounting for 76.8% of export turnover.

Similarly, the Mong Cai Border Gate Customs Sub-Department underthe Quang Ninh Customs Department revealed statistics that the totalimport-export turnover hit 504.96 million USD in the past three months; a102.01% increase in declarations.

Particularly, export goods of border residents grew by 288.96% indeclarations and 134.86% in turnover over the same period last year.

In order to have this positive result, the customs offices locatedin these localities have made great efforts to coordinate with the functionalforces to carry out customs procedures, inspect and supervise goods quickly tofacilitate business timely delivery to the partner’s side.

Some provinces have reached agreements with the neighbouringcountry’s localities to increase the working time of the day to supportbusinesses, said Bui Minh Hai, a representative from the CustomsSupervision and Management Department under the General Department of VietnamCustoms, told Vietnam Financial Times (Thoi baoTai chinh Vietnam).

Despite many positives, it is undeniable that the import andexport results with this important partner have not reached the same paceas before.

Part of the cause was determined to be due to side gates, as theopenings are still frozen.

Hoang Duc Hau, Deputy Director of the Cao Bang Customs Department,said that the locality had many border gates, but the side border gates andopenings still did not have import and export activities, therefore, they couldnot promote the strengths of a province that has many border gates adjacent toChina.

So are Lang Son, Lao Cai and Quang Ninh, although the authoritieshave created maximum convenience for import and export activities in the area,but in order to further strengthen the customs clearance capacity, manyrecommended that localities needed to step up exchanges and talks at all levelswith the Chinese side to restore side border gates and extend the workingtime of the functional forces on the Chinese side at border gates./.