China and the EU signed a deal on Tuesday to enhance their cooperation on trade security and facilitation. The agreement aims to establish "smart and safe trade lanes" in a bid to boost trade while countering the threats of piracy and terrorism.

The scheme will start with a pilot project focusing on sea containers transport between Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Felixstowe in Britain, and the southern Chinese port of Shenzhen, Chinese customs officials said.

A "smart" examining and monitoring system using high-tech electronic devices will be developed to minimize trade in counterfeit goods and make the process of going through customs quicker and cheaper, they said.

According to Tuesday's deal, a steering group comprising representatives of the customs authorities of China, the EU, the Netherlands and Britain will be set up to guide and implement the pilot project.

"The EU is China's biggest trading partner, and enhancing customs cooperation with the EU is very important to China," Mu Xinsheng, Minister of China's General Administration of Customs, told reporters at the EU headquarters in Brussels.

Mu met with EU Taxation and Customs Union Commissioner Laszlo Kovacs on Monday to discuss closer cooperation. On Tuesday, Kovacs and he attended a meeting of the China-EU Joint Customs Cooperation Committee, which focused on the protection of intellectual property rights and trade security.

"Nowadays, customs authorities have to deal with both conventional and unconventional security threats, such as terrorism," Mu said, adding that the pilot project is a big step towards achieving better security of trade between China and the EU.

"The pilot project is of limited scope, but we hope that one day it would be extended to all member states of the EU and China," Kovacs said.

Since the entry into force in April 2005 of the China-EU Agreement on Customs Cooperation and Mutual Administrative Assistance, the EU and China have deepened their cooperation to step up the fight against counterfeiting and piracy, to facilitate trade and increase security.

A China-EU Joint Customs Cooperation Committee was set up to meet regularly to discuss problems encountered in bilateral customs cooperation. Customs administrations of the EU and China exchange experience and develop best practices with a view to securing and facilitating trade between them.

The pilot project should test security throughout the entire transport process, from container loading to unloading.

(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2006)