M'SIAN GOVT TO IMPLEMENT NATIONAL SINGLE WINDOW FOR TRADE FACILITATION

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 (Bernama) -- The government is implementing the National
Single Window (NSW), a trade facilitation system to enhance trading efficiencies
and improve productivity.

"Electronic governance is becoming essential nowadays to increase speed and
efficiency and it is our ultimate goal to move society to a paperless one,"
Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Rahim Bakri told reporters Tuesday.

"One of the areas will be the custom clearance process in which the process
can be expedited. It is our wish to reduce the turnaround time of import and
export activities and improve the recognition and ranking of the country," he
said at the Asia-Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum.

The NSW is aimed at simplifying import and export customs documentation and
logistics requirements.

"With the NSW, cost savings of almost US$32 million per year has been
achieved, including the reduction of cargo turnaround time from an average of
four days to one day only," said Abdul Rahim.

The government is looking forward to set up the Asean Single Window (ASW)
trade facilitation measure as well.

Currently, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia are participating in a
pilot project to determine the most effective method for electronic exchange of
information among the Asean countries.

"Once the pilot project is completed, we hope to establish actual technical
connection between all Asean countries with the ASW," Abdul Rahim said.

"So far, the response has been overwhelming and the numbers are increasing
in terms of applications via the pilot project," he said.

The trade facilitation forum, organised by the United Nations Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in collaboration with the
Ministry of International Trade and Industry, aims to provide an open regional
platform to exchange information and best practices on trade facilitation.

"Emerging from one of the worst financial crises, our region is poised
between the best and the worst of times," said ESCAP Trade and Investment
Division director Ravi Ratnayake in his speech.

"If we want to resurrect trade as the engine of growth, we need to tackle
the numerous bottlenecks to intra-regional trade," he said.
-- BERNAMA