Qingdao recently released the 2025 Dedicated Action Plan for Cross-border Trade Facilitation, which prioritizes rolling out more favorable policies, making logistics unimpeded, optimizing regulatory patterns and advancing the construction of smart parts, and consists of 31 measures aimed at further improving the port business environment.

As stipulated in the Action Plan, Qingdao will enhance the coordination of inbound and outbound multimodal transport, facilitate matchmaking and cooperation between important sea transportation channels such as “Silk Road Maritime” and China-Europe Railway Express and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor among other cross-border land transportation channels, move faster to develop freight trains that integrate transportation and trading, and improve “airside direct transfer”-featured supervision at aviation ports. The Plan includes launching of facilitation measures in such sectors as customs clearance of agricultural foodstuffs and products, energy and mineral product imports, and air transportation of electrified goods, expansion of financial services towards small and micro foreign trade-oriented businesses, provision of greater insurance for eligible enterprises, and implementation of policies such as mutual and unilateral visa exemption, and 240-hour visa-free transit. Furthermore, the Plan prioritizes promoting information connectivity, high-efficiency coordination, platform co-building and sharing among port facilities to expedite the construction of smart ports.  (Yu Bo)

A China-Europe freight train departs from a multimodal transport center in the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA).  By Li Ziheng