PM allows goods exchange at border crossings
PM allows goods exchange at border crossings
The prime minister has assigned the Ministry of Finance to direct and allow goods receipt and delivery activities at border gates and border crossings while observing commodity quarantine regulations to stop the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.
To reduce the large produce backlog, border gates and crossings with China will be re-opened, the prime minister told a Cabinet meeting on February 4.
Since 2 p.m. on February 5, trade has resumed at the Huu Nghi international border gate in the northern province of Lang Son, allowing scores of container trucks to ship farm produce to neighboring China after several days of trade suspension due to the new coronavirus.
Under Document 808 released by the Government Office on the same day, the prime minister ordered import-export and transport activities to be executed in line with the prevailing regulations to ensure prevention and control of the outbreak’s spread and avoid affecting firms’ production operations.
In accordance with the prime minister’s directive, goods container truck drivers were told to arrive at goods delivery-receipt sites and isolation sites at border gates. They will not be allowed to access the interior areas of China to keep them from contracting the virus.
Despite the prime minister’s permission to resume goods exchange at border gates and crossings, many container truck drivers are hesitant to transport goods to China.
Nguyen Quoc Trinh, chairman of Long An Dragon Fruit Association, told the Saigon Times on February 6 that firms and farm produce transporters in the province, which has a large inventory of dragon fruit, still dare not carry goods to China for consumption.
Trinh stated that drivers and exporters who transport goods to China through the Huu Nghi international border gate face a 14-day quarantine per the country’s new regulations, discouraging them from transporting goods to the neighboring country.
Director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade Le Minh Duc noted that drivers and truck owners have suggested setting up a driver team specializing in driving goods trucks from the border gate to China.
On returning to the country, the drivers in this team will be kept in isolation and wait for their next shift, Duc explained.
Speaking at the Cabinet meeting on February 4, on measures to prevent the coronavirus from spreading, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the outbreak of the deadly virus, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, is unpredictable.
He told ministries, agencies and localities to stay on high alert and adopt comprehensive solutions to bring the epidemic under control.
