China's first pilot zone for facilitating border inspection and quarantine, in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, has been successful and similar zones will be built in other parts of China to facilitate trade between China and Southeast Asian countries, according to inspection and quarantine authorities.

"The speed of customs clearance of goods has increased by more than 60 percent since the pilot zone began operation in August," Wang Jiwei, deputy chief of Guangxi Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, said today during the Fifth China-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine that was held in Nanning, Guangxi's capital.

The pilot zone, launched into operation in Pingxiang, which borders Vietnam, in August, advances the existing entry-exit inspection and quarantine models to improve efficiency while ensuring risks are under control, according to the Guangxi Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.

Innovations utilized in the zone include integrating departments for different functions into one, such as the department for quarantine supervision and the department for issuing certificates, adopting a paperless e-platform for supervision and simplifying approval procedures for imports of certain types of agricultural products.

New technologies applied in the zone also have contributed to facilitated inspection and quarantine. For example, an integrated sterilization system to eliminate bacteria and viruses has been implemented to handle goods that were found to contain harmful species by inspection and quarantine officers, according to Nong Anyang, an operation manager in the zone.

Compared with current sterilization methods, which usually rely on heating or chemicals, the new method brings much higher efficiency and can expedite whole customs clearance procedures to benefit trading companies, he said.

China is ASEAN's biggest trade partner. Bilateral trade between the two reached $472 billion last year.

The Fifth China-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine was attended by 95 delegates from China and 10 ASEAN members, including the Philippines and Vietnam.

Contact the writer at wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn.