The National Single Window and the Trade Information Portal will reduce red tape and help to improve transparency said Australian High Commission’s Deputy High Commissioner Tim Huggins.
Speaking at an event held at the Sri Lanka Customs to spell out details of the advantage of a single window concept to stakeholders, he said that the biggest benefit in this regard would be for the SME sector.
“Unlike large companies who have special departments to iron out export-related issues, the SME sector doesn’t have experience to deal in complex export-related issues and the single window would be an ideal opportunity for them to look at exporters in a broader term,” Huggins said.
He also said that the economic vision for Sri Lanka for 2025 is very practical and they are eagerly following its implementation process.
“We are also happy with some economic reforms and this, along with the launch of SriLankan Airlines’ direct flights between Colombo and Melbourne would also help to increase bilateral trade between the two countries,” the Deputy High Commissioner said. “It will certainly help to better the US one billion trade between the two countries.”
World Bank Program Leader for growth and competitiveness for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Tatiana Nenova said that there are a lot of complications with regard to business start-ups and the National Single Window and the Trade Information Portal would help to iron out many issues.
She said that this would also help to improve the Ease of Doing Business index and also be a remedy for low FDI.
A National Single Window is a facility that allows all parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with single-entry points to fulfil all import, export and transit-related regulatory requirements. A Trade Information Portal is a single source of information on all rules and regulations related to international trade transactions.
Over a series of consultations, the Sri Lankan trading community highlighted minimizing uncertainty in government policies and improving predictability and transparency as key priorities.
These challenges, they said, were exacerbated by a complex regulatory framework with a number of border control agencies operating under different mandates.
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