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beijing, july 30 (xinhua) -- a chinese customs official said tuesday that the country's foreign trade will maintain stable development despite disruptions from various external factors. lyu daliang, spokesperson with the general administration of customs (gac), said the country's foreign trade volume reached a new high in the first half of this year, a hard-won outcome that lays a solid foundation for further development. according to gac data, the country's goods trade volume expanded 6.1 percent year on year to 21.17 trillion yuan (about 2.97 trillion u.s. dollars) in the january-june period, with exports rising 6.9 percent and imports climbing 5.2 percent. lyu said the trade volume of the country's cross-border e-commerce totaled 1.22 trillion yuan in the first half, up 10.5 percent year on year. this was boosted by supportive policies, including the establishment of pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce development and the facilitation of customs clearance. looking forward, he said china faces various challenges in maintaining foreign trade growth because of the increasingly complex and challenging external environment, which includes rising uncertainties and geopolitical risks. some countries' resorting to unilateralism and protectionism have cast more evident impacts on the global industrial and supply chains, while the shipping disruptions and rising freight rates amid the red sea tensions are also adding pressures on foreign trade enterprises with higher costs, lyu said. he expressed his confidence in the country's foreign trade development for the longer term, which he said will be buttressed by favorable factors, including the country's super-large domestic market, complete industrial system and supportive government policies. to consolidate the improving momentum of foreign trade, lyu said the gac will continue to ensure the implementation of these policies, boost the trade growth of intermediate goods, support the imports of advanced technology and equipment as well as key components, and promote the development of cross-border e-commerce and other new business forms. he said the country would further streamline customs clearance procedures and improve services to support the development of cross-border e-commerce. the gac official also said the administration would closely monitor changes in the situation, beef up policy options to improve customs clearance, and help lower enterprises' burdens.
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