On Jan 31, a group of Kunshan municipal customs and food safety officials surveyed the Cross-Straits (Kunshan) Trade Cooperation Zone to ensure its food inspection procedures meet standards.

The officials present at the visit included Yuan Ke, director-general of the Kunshan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau as well as Sun Hongsheng, deputy director-general, and Zheng Guanghua, chief of the Health and Food Inspection and Quarantine Section .

The delegation held discussions with the Service Industry Development Bureau of Huaqiao International Service Business Park and the Tw-Tc Corporation about the role inspection and quarantine work plays in the continued development of the Cross-Straits (Kunshan) Trade Cooperation Zone.

With a focus on effective supervision and rapid customs clearance, the leaders of the Kunshan Entry-Exist Inspection and Quarantine Bureau offered suggestions on how to raise inspection and quarantine efficiency while lowering the inspection ratio. One possible way would be to introduce internationally accepted third-party certification bodies and establis a model zone for the safety of imported food.

Tw-Tc Corporation said they would maintain close contact and cooperation with the Kunshan Municipal Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau and improve the inspection and quarantine speed of the food imported from Taiwan while adhering to standards of guaranteed safety and controllable risk. The service industry development bureau said they will strive to act as a bridge between government and enterprises, cooperate and provide coordination services, and try to obtain preferential policies from upper-level authorities.

After warm, detailed and intensive discussions, the three sides announced they would join hands to make the Cross-Straits (Kunshan) Trade Cooperation Zone a provincial-level “model zone” for safety supervision of imported food, aid the entry of more food from Taiwan into the mainland market, and fully utilize the zone’s special functional advantages.

By Zhang Yuan