China, Russia work to facilitate normal custom clearance
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China and Russia are working to wipe out irregularities customs clearance activities as they push for normal trade in goods, a senior Chinese official said here Friday.
Since Russia has begun to eradicate "grey customs clearance," China and Russia can cooperate to improve clearance efficiency, said Sun Yao, vice governor of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, when briefing reporters on the 21st China Harbin International Fair for Trade and Economic Cooperation, slated for June 15-19.
"Highway and railway border ports have facilitated direct communication between the two countries, which help make the clearance process faster," Sun said.
"Grey customs clearance" involves intermediaries handling customs clearance for bulk commodities loaded onto planes or trucks. It was allowed by Russia in 1990 when the country desperately needed daily necessities.
But the goods entering Russia in this way are not issued official customs declaration documents, preventing their sale at major Russian stores.
Large amounts of Chinese goods have entered Russia through the normal customs procedures since late last year, said Sun.
"These goods can be traded at wholesale markets and large stores in Russia, which is a great opportunity for Chinese manufacturers," Sun said.
In the China-Russia Ussuriysk Trade and Economic Cooperation Zone, 18 Chinese shoe producers trading via the normal customs clearance channel increased their sales in Russia to take over one tenth of the country's shoe market last year, Sun said.
"There will be 3,000 international standard booths available at this year's China Harbin Trade Fair in June," Sun said. "We are planning to invite over 1,000 Russian professional buyers and dealers to participate in the fair."
With the guiding principle of "Focusing on Russia and Facing Northeast Asia," the fair has become an important platform for China to promote trade and economic cooperation with Russia and Eastern Europe.
The China Harbin Trade Fair was the only trade fair written into the joint communique of the China-Russia summit meeting in 2009, Sun noted.
Since it began in 1990, the fair has been successfully held 20 times, with 1.6 million participants from over 80 countries and regions taking part. Almost 100 billion U.S. dollars of trade has been done at the fair since its inception.
