The Minister of Commerce revealed good news that "Guanlei Port" has opened for use after leading a group to visit Kunming in April 2024 to negotiate and open the way successfully. In early August 2024, a Chinese company imported 1 container of Thai durian weighing 16.8 tons as the first container at the Guanlei Port checkpoint to support Thai fruits entering China on a new route to aggressively market and create opportunities for Thai products. Mr. Phumtham Vejjayachai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, said that he had received a report from the commercial attaché at the Office of International Trade Promotion in Kunming that on August 5, 2024, Guanlei Port officially opened a specific import fruit control center. This route is a shipping route through Chiang Saen Port to Guanlei Port, which will be a new trade route that can directly connect trade from Chiang Rai to Kunming, adding a channel for fruit exports to China. This will help distribute produce during the period when there is a lot of produce, which will be beneficial for Thai agricultural products. This follows on from the fact that in April 2024, a discussion was held with Mr. Wang Yubo, Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of China in Yunnan Province, Governor of Yunnan Province and Secretary of the Communist Party of China in the Yunnan Provincial Government, and local government agencies to expand trade cooperation with China, solve the problem of exporting fruits and agricultural products from Thailand, and negotiate to open a new trade route, namely the shipping route through Chiang Saen Port to Guanlei Port. However, Guanlei Port will be the first import fruit specific control site on the waterway in Yunnan Province, opening a new waterway channel for importing fruits from South and Southeast Asia into China. On May 24, 2024, Guanlei Port was approved as the import fruit specific control site by the General Administration of Customs of China, and on July 29, 2024, it was successfully accepted. Recently, on August 5, 2024, M r. Ma Jun, Deputy Director-General of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Commerce and Director of the Yunnan Provincial Customs Administration Bureau, presided over the official opening of the import fruit specific control site at Guanlei Port. The first batch of imported fruits has successfully passed the inspection and customs formalities. On August 3, 2024, Xishuangbanna Jinggu Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. imported a container of Thai durian weighing 16.8 tons, which is the first container of fruit imported from overseas by the Guanlei Port after being approved as a 'special port for the import of fruits' by the General Administration of Customs of China. The vessel was boarded at Chiang Saen Port and arrived at Guanlei Port at 12:30 p.m. (China time) on August 5, 2024, with a transportation time of 1.5 days. In addition, China Daily reported that in the past few days, several companies have applied for customs quarantine inspections of fruits, including durian, mangosteen, watermelon, and banana, with a total volume of approximately 20,000 tons. It is estimated that the amount of fruit imported through the Guanlei Port will reach 150,000 tons in 2025 and will increase to 300,000 tons in 2030. 'Yunnan Province borders three neighboring ASEAN countries: Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar, and is located closest to Thailand. It acts as a distribution center for Thai products to provinces in the north and east of China. It is also a gateway and logistics hub with transportation routes connecting to Thailand by land, water, and air. Most Thai fruits imported into Yunnan Province are imported through the Mohan checkpoint. However, the opening of the specific fruit import control center at Guanlei Port will expand channels and add new transportation routes for Thai fruit imported into China. It is a successful result of the integration of the government and all sectors, which have received good cooperation,' said Mr. Phumtham.-514 Source: Thai News Agency