Press Release | Trade Digitalisation Pilot for Foreign Engineering Contracting Projects Completed

Beijing Two-Zone Office and Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority Facilitate the Launch of China’s First End-to-End Interoperable Trade Digitalisation Pilot for Foreign Engineering Contracting Projects

 China’s first end-to-end interoperable trade digitalisation pilot for foreign engineering contracting projects, jointly supported by the Office of the Leading Group for the Work of the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone and the Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening up the Services Sector (referred to as the "Beijing Two-Zone Office") and Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), was successfully completed on 11 February 2025.

This pilot was executed by China Road and Bridge Corporation and involved shipping engineering materials from Tianjin Port in China to Dar es Salaam Port in Tanzania, Africa. The project was supported by AEOTrade, which implemented blockchain technology for issuing, circulating, and verifying electronic bills of lading (eBLs) with the use of “AEOTradeChain + TradeTrust”, ensuring the security and credibility of trade data. Additionally, the company’s existing business systems were integrated to automate data flows and enhance trade efficiency.

 The pilot introduced four key innovations:

          1.       It digitised the entire process of trade in Chinese foreign engineering contracting projects (Customs code 3422), using blockchain technology to enable online circulation and real-time tracking of electronic documents.

          2.       It facilitated cross-chain interoperability between “AEOTradeChain” (developed by the Beijing TradeTech Alliance) and TradeTrust-enabled eBL system - AEOTradeOS, based on the Astron’ crypto-less public blockchain.

          3.       It established a cross-border digital trade “on-chain certification + dual-code verification” system, implementing blockchain certification for 28 types of trade documents.

          4.       It enabled secure data sharing between digital trade systems from different countries and regions through interconnectivity between China and Singapore.

According to participating companies, the pilot successfully addressed many challenges in international engineering trade digitisation, such as non-transparent supply chain information, inefficiency, high costs, and complex trade processes, helping businesses in the international engineering sector transit to digital trade. It is estimated that the use of decentralised interoperability technology have improved cross-department collaboration efficiency by 60%, reduced document preparation costs for customs clearance by 50% (saving USD$150-200 per container), and compressed document processing time by 80%. The system also improved logistics clearance efficiency by 30%, and reducing overall costs by 15%, thus solving issues related to multi-party collaboration and cross-border data sharing. This could save over 100 million RMB annually for enterprises in the international engineering sector.

Next, the Beijing Two-Zone Office and IMDA will continue to expand the application of trade digitalisation, supporting further development of digital and intelligent international trade.

This press release was published by Beijing Two-Zone Office.