Manzhouli, China's largest land port on the China-Russia border, is expected to be in service 24 hours a day starting from the end of this month, said sources with the Manzhouli government.

Zhang Jinghua, director of the Manzhouli Port Office, said the act will further boost local trade and economy, and bring a golden time for the port.

Local customs said relevant high-tech systems have been installed at the working site of the port to ensure sound operation in case of doubled work.

Manzhouli, a city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is the largest land port on the Sino-Russian border. Equipped with highly-developed railway and highway systems, the port handles 60 percent of the freight between China and Russia.

To boost bilateral trade, China will allocate 280 million yuan (about US$34 million) to extend the scale of Manzhouli Port this year, said Zhang.

Zhang forecasts that the port will hopefully handle 18 milliontons of goods for import and export this year, with the trade volume hitting 1.7 billion US dollars, the highest ever.

The main commodities imported from Russia via Manzhouli includetimber, crude, pulp and chemical products, while textiles, garments, building materials and home appliances are popular Chinese export items to Russia.

Local customs statistics showed that goods for import and export between China and Russia via Manzhouli came to 10 million tons in 2003 and rose to 14 million tons last year.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2005)