Customs clearance quickened at Hekou border gate

It was 8:00 am on February 22. The moment the Hekou Entry and Exit Inspection Center near the China-Vietnam border in south Yunnan opened, the cross-border Vietnamese traders rushed in. Fanshi Jinyin, a Vietnamese interpreter, was in the crowd.

With her face scanned and fingerprint recognized, the gate opened instantly and she completed the self-service customs clearance in less than 7 seconds. Then Fanshi Jinyin hurried to her workplace, a hospital in Hekou Yao Autonomous County. Nowadays it is common for residents in Lao Cai, Vietnam to cross the border and work in HeKou, China.

The HeKou border crossing is the short cut for Yunnan to enter Southeast Asia and southern Pacific. In the past years, locals have upgraded opening up, focusing on high-quality growth and leap-forward development.

In the No. 1 workshop of the HeKou cross-border economic cooperation zone, Huang Xiaohua, deputy general manager of Yunnan Guoxinda Electronics Technology, was examining the assembly line. The company was put into operation in 2018, and in January this year its business thrived.

“I’ve been working in electronics for more than 20 years,” said Huang. “And now I am lucky to have my business in Hekou, a forefront for opening up." Besides the locational advantage, Huang also appreciates the all-round and considerate management in the economic zone.

“Focusing on key industries, enterprises and projects, we aim to build Hekou into a window and forefront in Yunnan’s effort to be a pivot of opening up to south and southeast Asia,” said Lu Xuegen, director of the Trade Cooperation Office, HeKou Cross-Border Economic Cooperation Zone. Now the cross-border economic zone is already home to 26 companies.

Improved financial service also helps. Through the cross-border RMB settlement at the Hekou branch of Agricultural Bank of China, Hekou Runzhe Company greatly cut the time and cost in its exporting 1-million-yuan cloth to Vietnam.

The Yunnan branch of Agricultural Bank of China has joined hands with banks in Lao Cai, carrying out RMB cross-border settlement and free changes between Chinese yuan and Vietnam dong.

Reporting by Li Shufen and Zhu Hai; trans-editing by Wang Shixue