(Vice-governer of Hunan province He Baoxiang and other leaders are touching the photoelectric ball, announcing the official starting operation of Xiangtan CBZ.)
On the morning of April 20th, under Xiangtan CBZ’s main customs checkpost which looks like a great hawk spreading its wings, the freight cars of KOKO Trade entered the Zone after swiping cards one by one, with the related data stored into customs information system through this new “account”---Xiangtan CBZ. Since then, the first comprehensive bonded zone within Chang-Zhu-Tan city group officially started operation, adding another “promoter” to the development of export-oriented economy of Central China. On the same day, the customs highway supervision site was also opened to operation.
Attending the ceremony were: He Baoxiang (Vice-governor of Hunan province), Xiong Fangping (deputy secretary-general of provincial government of Hunan province), Li Duizhen ( chief of Changsha Customs), Xu Shuangrong ( director of Port Office of provincial government of Hunan province), Xie Jianjun ( deputy director of Hunan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau), Xiangtan municipal leaders Chen Sanxin, Hu Weilin, Chen Zhonghong, and related officers from related departments of Hunan province and Xiangtan city. Hu Weilin, mayor and deputy Party secretary of Xiangtan hosted the ceremony, and Chen Sanxin, Party secretary and director of the NPC Standing Committee of Hunan province delivered a speech on the ceremony. During the ceremony, vice-governor He Baoxiang and other leaders touched the photoelectric ball, announcing the official starting operation of Xiangtan CBZ and the opening of customs highway supervision site. Chief of Changsha Customs Li Duizhen gave the instruction of customs clearance operation.
As specially supervised areas by customs, comprehensive bonded zones are special open areas ranked only second to free trade zones concerning to its high pen level, many preferential policies, sufficient functions and simplified service procedures. Xiangtan CBZ was approved to establish by the State Council on September 7th, 2013. According to the overall design, Xiangtan CBZ will cover a total area of 3.12km2, with a total investment of 3.68 billion yuan, among which the first phase of the Zone construction takes up an area of 1.62km2, with 2.2 billion yuan investment.
The first phase of the Zone construction started in October, 2013. By far, 7 projects including comprehensive service center, electronic information platform, supervision warehouses, inspection platforms, customs checkposts, purse nets and patrol channels have all been finished according to the related requirements and have passed the provincial pre-acceptance on December 16th, 2014, and then they have also successfully passed the joint check and acceptance by ten national ministers and commissions on January 28th this year. At the same time, under the wise leadership of the provincial and municipal governments and Party committees, the Zone has achieved promising investment promotion. Presently, it 18 projects have entered the Zone. The Zone’s management mechanism has been improving day by day and a scientific and efficient enterprise service system is gradually coming into being. The Zone has been making great effort to achieve a total export-import volume of 0.5 billion dollars in 2015, and one billion dollars in 2016. Through three to five years of development, the Zone is expected to achieve an export-import volume of more than 5 billion dollars.
(The first customs supervision vehicle is passing through the main customs checkpost in Xiangtan CBZ.)
As an area specially supervised by Customs, Xiangtan CBZ enjoys a series of such favorable policies as “boned tax”, “tax exemption”, “tax rebates”, and “taxation”. At the beginning, The development of Xiangtan CBZ has been positioned as “Four Areas&One Center”, which includes high-end manufacturing gathering area, modern international logistics area, supporting services model area, reform and innovation pilot area and import commodity exhibition and transaction center. With the implementation of “One Belt and One Road” and “Yangtze River Economic Belt” strategies, and as the integration of Chang-Zhu-Tan city group accelerates day by day, the official operation of the Zone will greatly promote the efficient customs clearance of foreign trade goods of Xiangtan city and Hunan Province, cut down costs of logistics and capital turnover, and facilitate the development of export-oriented economy of Xiangtan and even the whole Hunan province.
Chen Sanxin said, “today is a new beginning of Xiangtan’s economic and social development, it symbolizes that the opening-up cooperation with the outside and the development of export-oriented economy of Xiangtan have stepped into a new stage.” He pointed out that all municipal departments, especially Party Working Committee and Management Committee of Xiangtan CBZ, should actively learn from the advanced experience home and abroad, focus on pursuing high standard, high quality and high level services in aspects such as guiding design and planning, improving supporting facilities, innovating systems and mechanisms, inviting investment and promoting project construction, and fully make use of the advantages of the Zone as an “absorbtion area, supporting point, opening-up source and industrial cluster”. Meanwhile, he also expressed his expectation that leaders at all levels and people from all social circles would continue to care about and support the construction of XIangtan CBZ and the social and economic development of Xiangtan, and would work together to build Xiangtan CBZ into a new highland of opening-up, a new engine of economic development, and a first-level comprehensive bonded zone in China, and finally to help the export-oriented economy in Hunan province to achieve new breakthroughs and step onto a new stage!
