China's customs office on Monday announced plans to build a new economic belt along the Yangtze River. The planned belt will be an extension of the Shanghai free trade zone and encompass a number of municipalities and provinces.

Customs districts along Asia's longest river will provide faster and easier clearance for the economic belt through a program now being promoted in the Shanghai free trade zone. The program will integrate all of the custom districts in the proposed zone and allow them to share the same logistics platform.

Premier Li Keqiang in April called for construction of the new zone in order to bring the economic benefits enjoyed in more developed coastal areas to inland regions.

The proposed belt includes the Yangtze River Delta, an industrial and services cluster encompassing Shanghai the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. That region now accounts for 20 percent of China's GDP and one third of its imports and exports.

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