Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has signed an urgent notice on the clearance of export goods at Tân Thanh Border Gate in the northern province of Lạng Sơn.

Containers are lined up in a parking area, waiting for their turn at Tân Thanh border gate, the main entrance for produce to China.

The gate is the main entrance for produce to China.

The Prime Minister took the decision following a report that over the past week, hundreds of trucks loaded with fruits have been stuck at the border gate for several days.

In the notice, the Prime Minister requested the Chairman of the People’s Committee of Lạng Sơn Province, in collaboration with agencies under the leadership of the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Transport, to work with their Chinese counterparts to speed up customs clearance of the Vietnamese export goods stuck at Tân Thanh Border Gate and other border gates in the area.

Plans on arrangement of containers’ depot and warehouses and for regulating the traffic flow should be prepared to minimise traffic congestion.

Strict management should also be put in place to prevent smuggled goods from entering Việt Nam, the notice said.

The heads of the concerned ministries and customs department have been tasked with supporting the provincial People’s Committee in implementing the above-mentioned duties.

According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondents, the traffic jam at the border gate is slowly eased.

The Tân Thanh Customs Department has been completing procedures every day for some 800 lorries to cross the border, according to Nguyễn Công Trưởng, vice chairman of the provincial People’s Committee.

To resolve the congestion, the provincial authority has set up working groups to collaborate with relevant agencies from China to manage the exchange of goods between traders, Trưởng said.

The working hours for customs clearance have also been extended to facilitate the export of goods, he said.

According to Đoàn Tuấn Anh, deputy head of Tân Thanh Customs Department, this is the harvest season for fruits in the southern provinces which is one of the factors contributing to traffic jams as many lorries are carrying the fruits to China through the border gate. 

Lạng Sơn Province has several border gates, but Chinese authorities allow such agricultural goods as watermelon and dragon fruits to be imported only via the Tân Thanh Border Gate. As a result, traffic congestion usually occurs during the main harvest season. — VNS