The Changsha Customs Authority on September 1 released 20 concrete measures to deepen China-Africa customs cooperation. The measures will give full play to the advantage of Hunan as the permanent host of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) and take the initiative to promote cooperation with African customs authorities, to contribute to Hunan's high-level opening up.

- Strive to win support from the General Administration of Customs to establish a cooperation mechanism between the Changsha Huanghua Airport customs authority and the Nairobi Kenyatta International Airport quarantine authority, and expand the scope of institutionalized inspection and quarantine cooperation between Chinese and African customs. Make an ongoing study on food security management systems of 17 African countries and regions, and undertake as many projects as possible including assessment of the entry of African agri-food products into China and review the policies related to Africa, to facilitate the introduction of more high-quality agri-food products from Africa.
- Open "green lanes" for the entry of agri-food products from African countries, and carry out follow-up services for the two authorized products at the 3rd CATEE to facilitate their importation. Streamline quarantine application and approval procedures, offer inspection priority, and open "green lanes" for inspections, to facilitate the customs clearance of African agricultural products while ensuring China's biological security.

- Study and plan for the regular tasks of the China-Africa trade index formulation on the basis of the first version, and publish this index annually. Build the China-Africa SPS (sanitation and phytosanitary) cooperation information website into a hub of information on China-Africa customs inspection and quarantine cooperation.

- Expand the scope of mutual recognition agreement of AEO (authorized economic operator) in Africa, and continue to boost mutually recognized cooperation with Burundi and the East Africa Community (EAC) under the guidance of the General Administration of Customs.

- Make good use of "one center and two bases" – the Changsha Customs Technical Measures to Trade Investigation and Research Center (Africa), the China-Africa Technical Measures to Trade Research and Evaluation Base, and the Plant Extract Products Technical Measures to Trade Research and Evaluation Base. Promote transformation of research outcomes of the negotiation and responses to technical measures to trade, assist enterprises to explore the African markets, and create brands of technical measures to trade with Africa.

Customs data shows that Hunan's import and export value with Africa reached 34.69 billion CNY in the first seven months this year, up 18% over last year and accounting for 9.1% of the total provincial foreign trade volume.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn