This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and during that time Baotou has continued to support enterprises in the city to explore the international markets involved in the BRI, helping them benefit from the foreign trade policy.

Baotou's main trading partners are Mongolia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, and 34 other countries involved in the BRI. In the first quarter of this year, Baotou Customs issued nearly 160 certificates of origin of countries involved in BRI. The city's imports and exports to countries involved in the BRI reached 3.64 billion yuan ($526.32 million), up 167.6 percent year-on-year.

Focusing on preferential policies and rules of origin of countries involved in the BRI, Baotou Customs has set up a special service window for RCEP and origin visas to help guide enterprises so that they can enjoy tariff preferences more accurately.

The RCEP, or the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, is a landmark trade accord that came into effect at the start of the year involving China and regional partner nations. Since its introduction, major reductions in tariffs between its members.

Customs officials in Baotou recently instructed Inner Mongolia North Heavy Truck Co to submit an RCEP certificate of origin. As a result, the certificate was approved, which means that the company's off-highway mining dump trucks exported to Indonesia can enjoy a local tariff reduction of 1.12 million yuan.