Lang Son Province in northern Vietnam is set to launch a pilot scheme on transforming international border gates linking it with Chinese localities into smart ones, which will utilize AI, automated guided vehicles, and a smart warehouse management system.

The northern border province will implement this pilot scheme right after receiving approval from the national government, Nguyen Vinh Phu, deputy head of the Dong Dang-Lang Son Border Gate Economic Zone Management Authority, told a press briefing hosted by the provincial administration on Tuesday.

Both the Vietnamese and Chinese sides will also deliberate developing a command center to monitor operations of the smart border gates as well as to connect and share data with each other.

The smart border gates are expected to improve border customs throughput capacity and raise import-export turnover by threefold by 2027 and fivefold by 2030, Phu said.

The local official explained that implementing these measures could not only lead to a 30-40 percent reduction in logistic and customs clearance costs at the Tan Thanh and Huu Nghi international border gates but also stimulate production and enhance the export activities of enterprises.

He asserted that the advancement of smart border gates would elevate cargo throughput efficiency at land border gates, meeting the increasing demand for trade activities between Vietnam, China, and other ASEAN nations.

In the year to date, there have been instances in which Vietnamese agricultural products bound for China were delayed at the province's border gates so local authorities took measures such as arranging parking lots and non-tariff zones in the area to accommodate stranded trailer trucks carrying agricultural items, according to Phu.

The border gates in the province have seen a little number of stranded vehicles since then, while their throughput capacity has been improved.

These border gates are now able to handle some 1,300 vehicles per day from the previous 800 units, Phu added.

In July this year, the province resumed customs clearance activities at the Na Hinh sub-border gate, raising the total number of operational border gates to six, including Huu Nghi, Dong Dang, Chi Ma, Tan Thanh, Coc Nam, and Na Hinh.

Official data showed that Lang Son conducts customs clearance for between 1,100 and 1,350 vehicles per day on average.

Two-way trade between Lang Son and the Chinese side reached an estimated US$4.78 million this year, equivalent to 125.8 percent of the 2023 target and up over 56 percent year on year.

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