China-CEEC Customs Information Center Unveiled

On April 27, the China-CEEC Customs Information Center was inaugurated in Ningbo, and the website of the China-CEEC Customs Information Center was launched simultaneously.

President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the China-CEEC Leaders’ Summit on February 9th, emphasizing “promoting the construction of China-CEEC Customs Information Center” and “exploring the development of smart customs, smart borders, and smart sharing with the customs of CEECs. China Unicom’s “cooperative pilot” and other important tasks.

The establishment of the China-CEEC Customs Information Center aims to implement the spirit of Chairman Xi Jinping’s important speech at the China-CEEC Leaders’ Summit, and to continuously deepen the cooperation between China’s customs and CEECs on trade security and customs clearance facilitation, and more Good service to the overall situation of the country's diplomacy and high-level opening to the outside world. The information center will work hard to play the role of the "three platforms": a communication platform to promote the communication and exchange of customs inspection and quarantine laws, regulations, and policies and measures between China and Central and Eastern European countries; Obstacles and difficulties in customs clearance of goods and access to agricultural and food products; monitoring and early warning platforms, timely release of China-CEEC trade trends and monitoring and early warning articles, helping "China’s imports of agricultural products from Central and Eastern European countries to double in the next five years, and both sides’ agricultural Realization of the goal of a 50% increase in trade volume. The information center will also undertake the work of the China-CEEC Customs Inspection and Quarantine Cooperation Dialogue, and further build the Dialogue into an important platform for China Customs and the customs and inspection and quarantine authorities of Central and Eastern European countries to strengthen friendly cooperation and promote trade facilitation.

The website of the China-CEEC Customs Information Center has bilingual information dynamics, laws and regulations, customs clearance guidelines, monitoring and early warning, technical and trade information, China-CEEC Customs Inspection and Quarantine Cooperation Dialogue, and interactive exchanges. The dynamic data visualization function uses advanced "digital earth" technology to visually display the geographic location, import and export trade situation of China and Central and Eastern European countries, and the trend of related data in the last 12 months. Up to now, the website has maintained more than 2.6 million Chinese data, 810,000 English data, and completed 225,000 translations, including 165 international treaties related to customs business, more than 240 laws and regulations, and 247 customs business matters.

It is understood that Ningbo is a hot spot for China-CEEC cooperation. In 2017, the "17+1" economic and trade cooperation demonstration zone was established in Ningbo, and it was written into the "Budapest Outline". The first China-CEEC Expo, which was upgraded to a national-level foreign-related mechanism exhibition in 2019, was held in Ningbo. In 2020, the total trade volume between Ningbo and Central and Eastern European countries is close to 30 billion yuan; there are 160 two-way investment projects with an investment of 560 million US dollars, accounting for more than 5% of the country; the annual exhibition of special products from Central and Eastern Europe has become the largest and most comprehensive in China. Central and Eastern European consumer goods distribution center. In the online exhibition of cooperation achievements held during the 2020 China-CEEC Summit, 18 of the 145 achievements involved Ningbo. According to the evaluation report of the European Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Ningbo has ranked first in the country in terms of local participation in the "17+1" cooperation for two consecutive years. From 2016 to 2019, Ningbo Customs has successively hosted four China-CEEC Customs Inspection and Quarantine Cooperation Dialogues, and signed a total of 6 bilateral protocols or memorandums.

Wang Lingjun, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Customs, Huo Yuzhen, Special Representative for Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hungarian Ambassador to China Bai Sidi, and leaders of Ningbo Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government attended the opening ceremony of the Information Center and website launching ceremony that day