CHONGQING — Fifteen regional customs directly under the General Administration of Customs (GAC) of China on Oct 13 inked a memorandum of cooperation in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality to support the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor construction.

The new corridor is a trade and logistics passage jointly built by western Chinese provincial-level regions and Singapore under the framework of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity. Chongqing is a center of operation for the corridor.

According to the memorandum, the 15 customs will make joint efforts to facilitate clearance, promote industry development along the corridor, improve supervision and crack down on smuggling.

"The memorandum aims at strengthening cooperation among regional customs and improving cross-regional clearance service, to better support the construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor," said Sun Wenkang, a GAC official responsible for customs clearance business.

Rail-sea transport, cross-border highway and railway logistics lines along the corridor have been under normal operation by the end of September, linking 190 ports in 90 countries and regions around the globe, including Singapore, Japan, Australia and Germany.