Guangzhou Customs announced a series of facilitation measures to help ensure smooth and efficient customs clearance of personnel, exhibits and related materials entering and exiting the 138th China Import and Export Fair, commonly known as Canton Fair, over the weekend.

The specific facilitation measures simplify the previous participation procedures and formalities to better serve the smooth progress of upcoming Canton Fair, China's biggest trade event, according to Tan Wu, deputy director of Guangzhou Customs.

The fair will open in Guangdong provincial capital on Wednesday and runs through November 4 in three stages. The fair is regarded as a barometer of the country's foreign trade, and even global trade, as China's foreign trade represents a large proportion of world trade annually.

Tan said foreign business representatives and exhibitors attending the Canton Fair can directly go through customs clearance procedures for their exhibits and related exhibition business via a single website.

"Guangzhou Customs has now provided a one-stop service to help foreign Canton Fair participants go through customs procedures to facilitate offshore exhibitors' participation in the fair, and implement the tax incentives for imported exhibits," Tan said at a news conference in Guangzhou on Saturday.

At the Canton Fair, merchants from around the world will gather in Guangzhou, known as a millennium commercial capital, further boosting the city's exhibition economy and promoting local consumption, as well.

To support Guangzhou's efforts to build an international consumption center and develop the departure consumption economy for overseas tourists, Guangzhou Customs has optimized supervision and services for departure consumption of overseas participants in the Canton Fair, Tan said.

By establishing dedicated tax refund counters, adding more guidance signs, expanding verification areas, and promoting the use of the State Taxation Administration's customs client application system — data connectivity between the tax authorities, customs, and tax refund agencies has been greatly improved — increasing processing efficiency by 90 percent, according to Tan.

Guangzhou Customs handled more than 20,000 verification cases for departure tax refunds, exceeding 300 million yuan in the first nine months, a year-on-year increase of 150 percent, Tan said.

In addition to export business for domestic enterprises, the fair will include an import exhibition hall covering more than 10,000 square meters.

By the end Friday, a total of 72 batches of Canton Fair foreign exhibits, valued at approximately 3.96 million yuan, had entered the country through air and seaports, including Nansha Port, Jiaoxin Terminal, and Baiyun International Airport.

These exhibits mainly come from 13 countries and regions, including Egypt, Thailand, and Japan.

Sun Aihua, deputy director of supervision division with Guangzhou Customs, said more overseas exhibits will arrive in the fair in the days to come.