ISLAMABAD: Customs authorities of Pakistan and China on Wednesday reached consensus to expedite clearances of agriculture products under the proposed Green Corridor at Sust and Khunjerab.

The consensus on this issue among others was reached during the past two days in meetings between General Customs Administration of China and Pakistan Customs at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) headquarter.

An official statement issued after the meeting said the Green Corridor will serve as a fast track customs clearance system exclusively for agricultural products at the Silk Route Dry Port (SRDP) at Sust, Pakistan and Khunjerab Dry Port at Tashkurgan on the Chinese side.

It was agreed that border-management cooperation would be enhanced. Focal persons were nominated to liaison and hold regular meetings.

It was also stressed that Pakistan Customs would share its experiences of roll out of the Authorised Economic Operation Programme (AEOPs) with its Chinese counterparts.

The Pakistani and Chinese administrations would closely work towards exchange of information about AEOPs for smooth flow of trade between both countries.

Cooperation between the local field officers would be enhanced and a working mechanism was decided between Urumqi Customs and the Collector, Model Collectorate of Customs, Islamabad for exchange of information about passengers traveling by air between Pakistan and China.

Pakistan Customs candidly shared its concern with the Chinese delegation about issues in the data received from China under the Electronic Data Exchange Mechanism. The Chinese side agreed to these views and assured its full-fledged cooperation to resolve this matter so that under- and over-invoicing and trade-based money laundering could be effectively curbed.

Other areas discussed in the meeting were removal of obstacles in exchange of information, on real time basis, between both countries about values of goods originating from them. It was urged to have Exchange of information/intelligence to effectively control illicit flows of currency.

Development of AEOPs between the two countries was also discussed. More effective Border Management Cooperation was stressed by both the sides.

FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi called for greater collaboration and exchange of information. He also emphasised upon seamless and unhindered exchange of values declared in both countries at the time of export so that the menaces of under-invoicing and money laundering could be effectively curbed.

He added that the said matter has also been raised with the Ambassador of China in Islamabad Yao Jing.

Member (Customs Policy, FBR) Javed Ghani highlighted that due to this expeditious customs clearance system, fresh fruit and other agricultural produce imports and exports will be cleared on priority on fulfilling of due customs and import policy requirements.

The Green Corridor will have dedicated Customs staff and separate shed areas for handling, examination, storage and clearance of such cargo. There will be minimum intrusive examination, with more reliance on risk-based selective examination and automated processing, Mr Ghani added.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2019