An agreement to streamline administration procedures for imports and exports was signed at the 2020 Forum of Major Leaders of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), which opened in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, on June 5.

The YRD, which encompasses the eastern Chinese provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, as well as the Shanghai municipality, is one of the country's most dynamic regions in terms of economic development, level of openness and innovation capabilities.

The signing ceremony of "major cooperation issues in the integrated development of the YRD" was held on June 6, and the construction of the YRD international trade "single window" was signed as a cooperative project in the field of commerce (ports).

The "single window" system, a metaphor to describe streamlined administration efforts, means that all export and import procedures can be done at one stop, a trade facilitation policy that enables faster and easier cargo clearance.

In recent years, Shanghai Commission of Commerce has been actively promoting "single window" connectivity. It has achieved the interconnection of "customs clearance + logistics" information and data with some YRD cities, promoted "single window" declaration data sharing with Anhui, and carried out "single window" experience exchanges with Zhejiang.

The signing this time confirms that YRD international trade "single window" cooperation has entered a new stage. Commerce (port) departments in the YRD will adhere to the concept of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, and thoroughly implement the YRD integrated development strategy and the national big data development strategy.

The cooperation is conducive to gradually pooling data on the international trade chain in the YRD, and forming a "single window" cooperation model featuring convenient data sharing, extensive platform coverage, rich and integrated functions and strong mechanism guarantees.