Frontline IT company; West Blue Consulting has said that empowerment and capacity building lie at the core of realizing the Single Window national vision in any country.
To this end, the company recently gathered maritime journalists from Nigeria to team up with their counterparts in Ghana for a one-day retreat and training on the benefits of Single Window operations held at Akosombo in Ghana.
Chief Executive of West Blue Consulting, Valentina Mintah who spoke at the workshop on Trade Facilitation noted that when countries key into the concept of the single window platform with support from government and stakeholders, it would help address bottlenecks, simplify
international trade as well enhance competitiveness and increased participation in the global economy.
She stressed the need for all hands to be on deck, including the media, both in Ghana and Nigeria.
West Blue Consulting is IT partner of the Nigeria Customs Service which developed the Single Window Platform, The Nigeria Trade Hub and Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) and in less than two years, Ghana also copied the scheme in September 2015 so as to know how Nigeria Customs Service modernized its operations.
While highlighting the benefits of the Single Window scheme, Mintah told journalists that for a typical West African country, such as Nigeria or Ghana, there are about 200 pieces of information to be provided by an importer/exporter at offices of about 14 government agencies, banks and insurance and some of these may require a return visit where mistakes occur.
She said the Single Window reduces time of doing business by 50 per cent and can bring down cost of doing business by 25 per cent.
She said, “The Single Window reform is now helping to create a fundamental change of the mind-set. Countries even in Africa that have embraced and implementing the Single Window have been able to reduce cost of doing business significantly and are doing so well. They include Coasta Rica and Rwanda and Ghana is also able to save about $200 million in 2015”.
The WTO Agreement Article 10.4 discusses the Single Window, while Article 4.1 states that members shall endeavour to establish or maintain single window- single entry point where all trade information can be accessed by government agencies and the private sector.
Mintah assured that “By 2020, about 100 economies and some regions would have implemented the Single Window reform, enjoying the benefits of pre-clearance formalities down from four days to 0.5 days and Customs clearance from 18 to nine days.
She noted that the Single Window reduces export time from 22 to 11 days. But most importantly, Single Window is about people more than technology.
“We need to ensure that intra-Africa trade is increased, so that all surpluses and deficit that exist within the region can be balanced. Intra-Africa trade is very low, so we need to be able to ensure that our systems talk to each other and our business talk together, so that we can look at the self-sufficiency that is needed for our continent,” she said.
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