The Ha Giang Border Guard Command has seriously implemented the direction of the Government, the Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defense on promoting IT applications associated with reforming administrative procedures in the management and protection of the national border and has achieved important results.

Ha Giang is a mountainous province on the northern border of the country. With a border length of more than 277km with China, Ha Giang has 4 main border gates of Thanh Thuy, Tam Pun, Xi Man and Pho Bang.

In particular, Thanh Thuy border gate economic zone is oriented to become a key economic area, a driving force in socio-economic development, maintaining security and politics on the Vietnam-China border.

In the first 3 months of 2023, total export and import turnover through Thanh Thuy International Border Gate reached 35.9 million USD, an increase of more than 478% compared to the same period in 2022. Of which, export turnover reached more than 22.5 million USD, import turnover reached 13.4 million USD, and state budget revenue was estimated at more than 33.3 billion VND.

In the context of the fourth industrial revolution, which has a profound impact and influence on all areas of social life, as the core force specialized in managing and protecting territorial sovereignty, national border security and border gate management, entry and exit control according to the provisions of law, the Border Guard Station at the Thanh Thuy International Border Gate has installed automatic equipment and used information technology application software to solve entry and exit procedures for people and tourists.

In late 2023, Thanh Thuy International Border Gate was equipped with an automatic entry and exit control system. The introduction of this automatic system helps make procedures faster and more accurate.

Lieutenant Do Trong Tin, Deputy Head of the Border Guard Station of Thanh Thuy International Border Gate, said: "Early this year, China began to reopen its borders after a long period of closure to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic. On average, Thanh Thuy International Border Gate services about 200-400 people completing entry and exit procedures each day.”

Thanh Thuy border gate has been invested in by the Border Guard Command with an automatic people control system. This is a system programmed with software to control people passing through the border gate. Visitors only need to place their personal documents on the scanning position of the machine. This system has 2 quick processing streams for tourists upon entry.

The use of an automated system makes the time to handle administrative procedures quicker, shortening the time for visitors. The computer systems are linked to the Provincial Border Guard Command and the Border Guard Command.

Operating these devices is quite simple. Passenger information is integrated into the software. Previously, Border Guard officers, every time they carried out entry and exit procedures, had to compare personal identification directly, then manually enter data into the computer, and then go to the step of stamping the passport. This whole process took about 10 - 15 minutes to complete. But now, when modern technology is applied, the checking time for each person is only about 2-3 minutes.

Lieutenant Do Trong Tin added that the automatic immigration control system relies on biometric characteristics to check and compare the check-in person's fingerprints with pre-registered fingerprints. Therefore, the accurate identification system can classify and compare between professionally managed subjects, helping border gate management forces to detect and control subjects quickly and promptly.

In addition, the system can synchronize faces, fingerprints and passenger data to help controllers quickly check information of people and passengers.

Ms. Hau Si Xinh, 47, from Ha Giang City, due to business requirements, often goes through Thanh Thuy International Border Gate. Since the automatic entry and exit control system was put into use, she has been very satisfied because she has saved a lot of time and effort.

"Previously, every time I had to go to the border gate to complete the exit procedures to China... I had to be there early, waiting in line to check in. But now, I only need to be there about 5-10 minutes in advance to scan documents. The operations are very easy to do,” Ms. Hau Si Xinh said excitedly.

According to its planning, Ha Giang province emphasizes the role of border areas in maintaining security, politics, and stability for socio-economic development, focusing on developing the National Highway 2 corridor with the most important areas of the province, such as Thanh Thuy border gate economic zone - Ha Giang city - Vi Xuyen town - Bac Quang town.

Thanh Thuy - Thien Bao is the first pair of bilateral border gates to be upgraded to international border gates since the completion of border demarcation work on the Vietnam-China land border. This is extremely important in promoting the international integration process of the two localities of Ha Giang - Yunnan in particular, creating favorable conditions for exchange and cooperation between Vietnam and China and connection to ASEAN countries in all fields in general.

Dinh Thanh, Dinh Bat Tuan, Anh Nguyen, Pham Thi Thien, Hong Nhi