The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) will launch its Electronic Single Window by the end of the year, a move that will centralise all services supporting inter-country trade and boost revenue collection.
The one-stop platform will enable traders to provide information for various official agencies through a single point of entry to fulfil all import-export, and transit-related regulatory requirements online, saving on time.
Comesa director of Trade and Customs Christopher Ochieng says the single window will facilitate faster processing of import and export procedures, coordination among customs and other agencies, and streamline workflows.
The efficiency brought about by the single window will help in addressing cases of congestion at points of entry and exit, which have been blamed on physical interactions and excess paperwork.
“The single window system generates several benefits to cross-border and international trade. For instance, governments are set to enhance revenue collections arising from higher compliance and improved efficiency in operations,” said Dr Ochieng.
Kenya is already implementing an electronic single window under the Kenya TradeNet System, which was established as a State Corporation in January 2010.
The country enjoys a positive trade balance within Comesa, with its cumulative exports to the bloc standing at Sh918.2 billion in the period between 2017 and 2021, versus imports worth Sh600 billion in the period.
Kenya has been championing the removal of trade barriers among African countries to ease the movement of goods, services and labour through the integration of regional trading blocs, hoping to ride on the positive regional trade balance to ease her overall trade deficit.
Dr Ochieng spoke on Monday during a second meeting organised by the Comesa Secretariat aimed at discussing and considering the Draft Terms of Reference to engage a consultancy firm that would assist in developing the single window to be implemented by the end of the year.
Trade Principal Secretary Alfred K’Ombudo said the meeting is expected to finalise the revised draft legal framework and the revised draft strategy and action plan for implementation of the single window.
Mr K’Ombudo said the benefits that Kenya has witnessed from the single window include improved convenience and substantial cost savings, enhanced connectivity, security, process, and procedures where the average number of process steps involved in processing clients' applications has reduced by almost half.
All the East African countries have already adopted the single window system making it easier for them to be integrated into the regional platform once it is implemented.
The system comes at a time when the continent is implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area, which seeks to remove tariff barriers and allow states to trade with each other regardless of geographical location.
