The first comprehensive bonded zone in northern Anhui province is now operating under closed borders
Article source: Anhui Daily
On November 20th, the sixth comprehensive bonded zone in Anhui Province and the first comprehensive bonded zone in northern Anhui Province, Bengbu Comprehensive Bonded Zone, officially closed and began operation. The towering cranes, neatly arranged containers, and orderly passage of customs intelligent checkpoint vehicles mark the substantive operation stage of the first comprehensive bonded zone in northern Anhui.
This moment is not only a milestone in the development of the open economy in Bengbu, but also a vivid reflection of the five years of hard work and progress in the Bengbu area of Anhui Pilot Free Trade Zone.
In the past five years, the Bengbu area has broken through the shackles of inland construction on the road of high standard construction, promoted institutional innovation, industrial upgrading, and open development, and embarked on a new path of "non coastal" opening up.
Institutional innovation breaks through barriers
How can inland cities overcome geographical limitations and achieve high-level openness? The answer for Bengbu is: to break down institutional barriers through institutional innovation, and to exchange the "inward cutting edge" of reform for the "broad sea and sky" of development.
In the first nationwide "phased simplified processing" model for pollutant discharge permit changes, the number of materials submitted by enterprises has been reduced from 4 categories to 1, and the cost of each application has been reduced by about 2000 yuan.
In the field of cross-border settlement, the Bengbu area has innovatively launched the "whitelist+self regulatory supervision" model for current account foreign exchange receipts and payments, reducing business processing time from 3 to 5 days to within 1 day and improving efficiency by over 67%.
In terms of customs clearance facilitation, we have innovated the market procurement and trade model of "provincial cargo grouping+national customs clearance", achieving on-site cargo grouping and national customs clearance. This not only greatly improves customs clearance efficiency, but also reduces enterprise costs. The cumulative number of registered entities has reached 613, achieving a transaction volume of 972 million US dollars.
In terms of financial services for the real economy, utilizing blockchain technology, we have launched a cross-border financial blockchain service platform to facilitate the authenticity verification of capital project income payments. We have verified 27 transactions with a total amount of 8.4565 million US dollars
Institutional innovation is an important task of the pilot free trade zone and the key to promoting systematic integrated reform. Through a series of pioneering and integrated reform measures, we have formed 51 national, Yangtze River Delta, and provincial-level institutional innovation achievements with demonstration significance, "said Fang Haoliang, Director of the Management Committee of the Bengbu Area of the Anhui Pilot Free Trade Zone.
Technology empowers industries
Faced with the challenge of transforming and upgrading traditional industries, the Bengbu area is driving innovation driven "old trees sprout new shoots" and promoting systematic reform of industrial structure. In the past five years, the Bengbu area has been committed to building a world-class silicon-based and biobased manufacturing center, a leading area for scientific and technological innovation and open development in northern Anhui, and accelerating the formation of new quality productivity.
In the product exhibition hall of Bengbu Guoxian Technology Co., Ltd., various display screens of different sizes are displayed. Especially in a corner of the exhibition hall, there is a coffee table with a display screen as the tabletop, where people can directly entertain themselves, bringing a new experience of "display changing life".
According to Zhu Song, the head of the Technology Development Department of Bengbu Guoxian Technology Co., Ltd., this product embodies the company's complete industrial chain layout from glass raw materials, glass substrates, panel thinning, display modules to touch display fully bonded assemblies.
In addition to Bengbu Guoxian Technology, in recent years, the Bengbu area has produced a large number of outstanding innovative achievements in the silicon-based industry. The world's first 8.6th generation OLED glass substrate has been successfully produced, and 0.12mm ultra-thin glass has been steadily mass-produced; Wuyao Glass has produced Anhui's first locally manufactured automotive glass.
Without a doubt, behind the rapid development of the 'dual base' industries, technological innovation is an important driving force, "said Fang Haoliang. With technological innovation leading the way, the industries in the Bengbu area have accelerated their takeoff, further driving the development of an open economy.
According to statistics, the Bengbu area accounts for 0.03% of the total area of Bengbu city, contributing 30% of the city's import and export trade volume and 15% of foreign direct investment. The role of the leading area in scientific and technological innovation and open development in northern Anhui continues to be highlighted.
Opening up drives reform
Nowadays, as the "bridgehead" for the integration of northern Anhui into the Yangtze River Delta, the Bengbu area is driving reform through opening up and promoting the leapfrog development of an outward oriented economy. The reform of 'one unit system' and 'one box system' in multimodal transport is a typical case.
In the past, enterprises had to connect with road, railway, and sea freight for export, and the cost of communication for a single shipment accounted for 15% of the total logistics cost. The delayed scheduling of empty containers and the cumbersome documentation process have resulted in an average of 12% of goods being delayed for export on a monthly basis.
Faced with obstacles such as cross regional information barriers, differences in rules among multiple departments, and insufficient collaboration among business entities, the Bengbu area has established a smart logistics center to achieve 12 functions of "one-stop service"; Establish a cross departmental collaboration mechanism and unify document standards; Innovate the service model of "one commission, one settlement, one box to the end".
In this way, as of October 2025, the Bengbu area has sent a total of 8676 TEUs of foreign trade containers, directly saving logistics costs of 2.7108 million yuan for enterprises, and reducing the delivery cycle from 10 days to 7 days.
In the past five years, from "inland hinterland" to "open frontier", from "institutional ice breaking" to "system integration", the Bengbu area has written a vivid practice of inland opening in the new era with the wisdom and courage of "non coastal".
Standing at a new starting point of the comprehensive security zone's closure operation, the Bengbu area is taking a higher level of openness and steadily advancing on the path of "testing the national system, promoting the revitalization of northern Anhui, and seeking development for Bengbu".