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Le Anh Quan, Standing Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee awarded medals to individuals with outstanding achievements by Hai Phong Customs Department, on January 6, 2022. Photo: T.Binh

In the early days of 2022, on the eve of the Lunar New Year, from the Hanoi-Hai Phong expressway to the inner city of Hai Phong, along Pham Van Dong street, we saw a busy atmosphere on the construction site of the Rào Bridge crossing Lạch Tray River with a total investment of more than VND2,200 billion. This is one of the key projects of Hai Phong that is being constructed to serve people's travel on the occasion of the Year of Tiger.

More than 10 years of working and conveying information about customs work and socio-economic activities in Hai Phong, never before have we witnessed a day-to-day change in the largest trading gateway in the North as in recent years.

In particular, in the past five years, Hai Phong has invested in traffic infrastructure with 46 bridges and hundreds of kilometers of newly-built roads.

Sharing our feelings about the change for better in the city with Nguyen Duy Ngoc, Director of Hai Phong Customs Department, we understand better the important contribution of the Customs force.

Director of Hai Phong Customs Department Nguyen Duy Ngoc said that over the years, along with contributing to the common achievements of the whole industry, generations of officials and employees of Hai Phong Customs Department have made constant efforts to the development of the city, gradually affirming its position and role in performing the tasks of socio-economic development, finance - budget in the locality.

Notably, in 2017, the Hai Phong Customs Department advised and proposed to the People’s Council of the City to issue a Resolution on collecting fees for the use of seaport infrastructure in accordance with the Law on Fees and Charges. During the implementation process, the Department actively advised the People’s Council of Hai Phong City to sign a regulation on coordination with the General Department of Customs to collect fees through the 24/7 electronic payment gateway of the Customs sector. This has both contributed to creating favorable conditions for businesses and ensured revenue management.

From the initiative and proposal of Hai Phong Customs Department, it helps the city budget to have an additional income of VND1,200 billion to VND1,800 billion each year, creating financial resources to invest in infrastructure projects.

Another important contribution is from the unit's efforts to exceed the annual budget revenue. In the 2015-2020 period, the total budget revenue of Hai Phong Customs Department reached VND292,152 billion. In particular, in 2019, the revenue reached a record of VND68,655 billion, exceeding the target of VND21,135 billion. With that result, the National Assembly and the Government decided to reallocate nearly VND2,000 billion to the city budget in the spirit of Decree No. 89/2017/ND-CP dated July 29, 2017, contributing to increasing the investment and development resources of the city.

In 2021, the Department's revenue reached VND66,362 billion, exceeding the target of VND11,694 billion. From this excess revenue, Hai Phong will receive significant additional resources to realize the socio-economic development goals for the 2021-2025 period.

In addition, Hai Phong Customs Department is also one of the leading unit in the locality in administrative reform and customs modernization, making an important contribution to promoting the growth of import and export activities through the seaport area and attracting investment into the city. In 2021, the Hai Phong Customs Department granted customs clearance for goods with a turnover exceeding US$100 billion for the first time, reaching more than US$105 billion.

Regarding the tasks of 2022, Director General Nguyen Duy Ngoc said that this year is considered a "hinge" year for the Customs sector as well as Hai Phong city.

For the Customs sector, the focus is on implementing the Customs Development Strategy for the 2021-2030 period, focusing on implementing the Digital Customs System and smart Customs model. At the meeting with the Department (in November 2021), Director General Nguyen Van Can assigned the Hai Phong Customs Department to be one of the first units in the whole sector to carry out the pilot.

This is the first year Hai Phong City has implemented Resolution 35/2021/QH15 of the National Assembly on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies to develop the city.

“The task set for the Hai Phong Customs Department this year is very heavy. Therefore, right from the beginning of the year, all officers and employees of the Department are determined to perform their duties, along with the whole Customs sector and Hai Phong city, the areas such as Duong, Hung Yen, and Thai Binh to successfully complete the goals and tasks of 2022," Director General Nguyen Duy Ngoc said.