Guizhou rides rails to Europe, boosting foreign trade economy

Workers from Guiyang customs check foreign trade commodities. [Photo/ddcpc.cn]

Southwest China's Guizhou province is utilizing China-Europe freight trains to boost its foreign trade economy.

According to official statistics, by Sept 23 of this year, the province had exported commodities such as guitars, tea and toilet lids worth 39.76 million yuan ($5.82 million), and imported goods like timber and grease worth a total of 4.41 million yuan, via China-Europe freight trains.

To help the province take advance China-Europe freight train routes, customs authorities in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, have optimized services, including cutting the time for customs clearance from the previous three or four hours to just seconds.

The super-fast customs clearance process results from Guiyang customs’ cooperation with its counterparts in cities where the freight trains depart from, such as Urumqi and Chongqing.

Now, it only takes four to five days for Guizhou’s export companies to go through customs formalities, and then they can export their goods to Europe via the freight trains.

Individualized surveillance plans and whole-procedure services are offered to different enterprises and products to help them clear custom smoothly.  

Also, customs authorities support the city’s construction of junction stations for China-Europe freight trains, making Guiyang a pivotal city along international sea-land trade routes.

Guiyang customs helps local featured commodities, high-quality agricultural products and cross-border e-commerce enterprises to seek further development via China-Europe freight trains. It also carries out preferential policies in customs clearance, inspection and quarantine, post-customs surveillance and tariffs for foreign trade enterprises.

Moreover, customs officials are encouraging the city to launch China-Europe freight trains, build an intermodal transportation system, expand foreign trade, create a complete credit authentication system for foreign trade companies and roll out more preferential policies.