Members of the Lin-gang Special Area Administration and officials from the Valparaiso Port Authority sign the accord in the port city in Chile on April 12. [Photo/WeChat ID: shlgguanweihui]

The Lin-gang Special Area Administration – operator of the Lin-gang Special Area in East China's Shanghai – and the Valparaiso Port Authority, or Empresa Portuaria Valparaiso, signed a cooperation memorandum in the port city in Chile on April 12.

The agreement aims to deepen collaboration under the Belt and Road Initiative, focusing on areas like bulk mineral resources and the specialty agricultural products trade. They'll also work on developing digital shipping solutions, exploring applications such as electronic bills of lading and electronic letters of credit.

Chilean agricultural exporter Greenex, completed the first electronic bill issuance and digital identity authentication based on the blockchain platform operated by IQAX – a global technology company that provides intelligent and digital transformation solutions for enterprises in the trading ecosystem – at the signing ceremony.

Greenex will explore paperless trade and full-process visual tracking based on electronic bills of lading, electronic letters of credit, electronic invoices, and interoperability. Moreover, it will move to establish a transparent and trustworthy supply chain traceability system and promote the implementation of relevant modules under the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement.

Maritime transport dominates global trade, but paper-based processes can often slow it down. IQAX, a tech provider for the Global Shipping Business Network, established an information technology company in the Lin-gang Special Area to develop smart solutions for trade digitization.

The IQAX eBL system for blockchain electronic bills of lading streamlines processes, reducing the administrative time from 2-3 days to 1-2 hours.

Valparaiso Port, managed by the Chilean government, is one of South American country's biggest ports – handling imports and exports like copper, fruit and timber, including Chilean cherries exported to Shanghai.