The northern mountainous province of Lang Son has identified trade with China’s Guangxi province, with which it shares a border line stretching 231 km, as key to unlocking the locality’s economic development potential.

Border trade has significantly benefitted Lang Son over the past two years, said Nguyen Quoc Hai, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade.

The official reflected on the province’s total import-export revenue in 2012 which exceeded 2.2 billion USD, stressing that this was the first time the locality’s export turnover has surpassed its import value.

Last year, the figure climbed to 2.5 billion USD, up 19.7 percent against the previous year, of which export value made up 56 percent to 1.3 billion USD, he added.

Lang Son mainly shipped abroad cassava, fruits and farm produce while importing autos and auto appliances, machinery, chemicals and production materials.

According to Hai, with more than 3.6 trillion VND (169.2 million USD) contributing to the State budget last year, the province has invested in upgrading infrastructure and accelerating border trade.

Nguyen Tien Bo, head of the Huu Nghi Border Gate’s Customs Branch, said the Lang Son Customs Department has aided struggling businesses while coordinating with relevant agencies to organise dialogue with them.

Thanks to these efforts, the Huu Nghi border gate has attracted a large number of businesses, he said.

Lang Son targets total import-export revenue of over 2.5 billion USD in 2014, up 0.8 percent over 2013. Of the amount, export value stands at more than 1.4 billion USD.

To fulfill the target, the province will give more importance to infrastructure development, market building, investment attraction and the reform of customs procedures.

Lang Son will also organise fairs in the province and China’s Pingxiang town, plus regular meetings for the two countries’ businesses to handle any operational difficulties they are facing.-VNA