Vietnam Asks China to Reopen Borden Border Gates Amid Supply Chain Crisis
Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade asked China's Guangxi region to reopen its border gates with the Southeast Asian country and extend customs clearance hours to help ease a container build-up due to COVID-19 policies, VnExpress International newspaper reported. The "zero COVID" policies of the Guangxi region include shutting down the border and suspending certain imports -- measures that a senior Vietnam trade ministry official told Guangxi trade officials were "unnecessary."
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The trade ministry proposed that Guangxi hire more drivers and workers to deal with its staff shortage and offered to send fully vaccinated Vietnamese workers across the border to help ease the supply chain snarls, the newspaper report said. The report said the trade ministry also told Guangxi officials of its desire to see a resumption in trade in Vietnamese dragon fruits. The Guangxi trade officials said they would increase the duration of customs clearance hours based on the agreement between the local authorities of the border gates, the report said. The remaining requests from Vietnam will be sent to higher authorities, Guangxi officials said, according to the report.