KARACHI: Member Customs Muhammad Zahid Khokhar has said that with the aim to ease doing business in the country, his department is developing an online National Single Window.
While talking to media, he said that after giving his approval to the new system, the Prime Minister assigned Pakistan Customs as lead operating agency.
The Member Customs said that Pakistan Customs has completed all the work on its part. However, several other departments would require development of IT infrastructure to create linkage with the WeBOC system, he added.
He said the government is giving priority to reduce the cost of business and enhance industrial activities in the country.
“Business related to trade and import or supply will be able to link with all related government departments with a single click to see their status of exemption and concession certificates,” he said while describing the significance of the project.
According to the World Bank report on ease of doing business, Pakistan ranked 174th in the 189 economies in “trading across the borders”.
Khokhar said that the entire system would be operational at the Customs in-house software – WeBOC, adding, “For the purpose of large size data, the capacity of WeBOC will be enhanced.”
The project would be ready in a year and around 30 to 40 departments would be linked to this system in order to facilitate the trade and industry, the member Customs added.
Timeline would be defined for the departments to approve or disapprove any request for certificate issuance in order to ensure speedy clearance at the Customs stage, he said.
“The delay time at the time of clearance is one of the major impediments for foreign investors in Pakistan,” the member said, adding that with the launch of this operation, the delay time, which was at present in days, would be reduced to a few minutes.
This software will also help reduce the chances of bogus and fake certificates, which were major reasons for revenue leakages.
Khokhar said that the plan will be submitted to the National Assembly for formal approval. Pakistan Customs had proposed a steering committee under the guidance of prime minister, he added.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gave approval for the establishment of this national single window for managing Pakistan’s external trade on March 30.
The premier had taken the decision to take away the power of managing trade from the Ministry of Commerce following informal consultation with internal and external experts.
Over the years, the single window has become a core instrument to facilitate trade, simplify procedures and implement electronic business. Around 50 countries have implemented the NSW system.
Pakistan has ratified the trade facilitation agreement with the World Trade Organisation and the NSW is one of the steps in that direction.
