The Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) sent a diplomatic note to the General Administration of Customs of China (China Customs) on Thursday, calling for the early signing of a protocol on food safety and quarantine requirements for fishery exports and imports between the two countries.

It said that to implement the common perceptions between the two countries’ leaders as identified in the 2022 joint statement on continuing to enhance the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, the MARD sent a delegation to work with the administrations and customs departments of the Chinese provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan from May 29 to June 2, aiming to promote cooperation and increase the value of agricultural products traded via the two countries’ provinces sharing the land border.

The Vietnamese delegation and the customs departments of Guangxi and Yunnan agreed to coordinate with each other to propose China Customs soon finalise procedures for signing a protocol with the MARD on food safety, quarantine, and examination requirements for aquatic exports and imports between the two countries.

The MARD suggested China Customs permit more fruits, aquatic species and products of Viet Nam to enter this country, license more Vietnamese aquatic product exporters that meet China Customs’ standards as confirmed by Vietnamese authorities, and allow raw aquatic products to be exported via border gates of Yunnan to ease customs clearance pressure on border gates and create the best possible conditions for businesses.

It also proposed China Customs order the customs departments of Guangxi and Yunnan to increase the sharing of information about customs clearance procedures, tackle bottlenecks in a timely manner to improve the customs clearance capacity, hold annual rotary meetings in November between the Chinese provinces’ customs departments and relevant agencies of Viet Nam, and assign units to act as liaison bodies. — VNS