The customs office in the city of Taizhou, Jiangsu province, on March 28 issued its first certificate of origin, a kind of passport for products and goods, under the new China-Maldives Free Trade Agreement, or FTA.
The certificate was for aluminum-plastic composite panels exported by Jiangsu Xinjiyuan New Material Technology to the Maldives with a value of 200,000 yuan ($27,441).
Ding Ruqin, manager of the manufacturer, said that previously, the aluminum-plastic composite panels it exported were required to pay a 10 percent tariff during customs clearance in the Maldives.
Now, with the certificate of origin, zero tariffs in the Maldives can be enjoyed, with the latest shipment saving 19,000 yuan in charges, Ding added.
Maldives was one of the first countries to join the Belt and Road initiative and China was also the first country to sign a bilateral free trade agreement with the Maldives.
The China-Maldives FTA came into effect on Jan 1 this year.
Yin Shaojie, deputy chief of statistics and analysis department of Taizhou Customs, said that the implementation of the China-Maldives FTA would allow products to enjoy tariff reductions ranging from 5 percent to 20 percent of their value, which was expected to save Taizhou's export enterprises 1.5 million yuan in tariff costs throughout the course of the year.