Finance Ministry reviews progress of National Single Window

Wednesday, 8 January 2025 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

To ensure efficient facilitation of services required by the exporters and importers of raw material for local industries, the Government has recognised the importance of the Single Window facilitation.

During a recent meeting to share the progress made in this regard, Deputy Minister Finance Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma informed the chamber representatives that the Department of Imports and Exports Control has commenced providing the required services online from 1 January 2025. Further it was noted that Sri Lanka Standard Institution was already providing online services required by exporters and importers.

Several other agencies have commenced the online facilitation of services with varying degrees of progress. The five chambers: Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, National Chamber of Commerce, National Chamber of Exporters, Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industries and International Chamber of Commerce who are currently engaged in the single window initiative, appreciated the facilitation.

Extending of services by the selected Government agencies through digital means allow exporters and importers to meet the compliant and other requirements without physically visiting the Government institutions.

The Deputy Minister and participants discussed the progress made by applicable agencies in respect to online availability of their services and requested the five chambers to submit their views and observations which could be used to prioritise the implementation until the National Single Window System is fully operationalised. Participants noted that limited progress was made since 2017 and therefore it is important to prioritise facilitating the needs of exporters and importers to provide competitive advantage for them. It was noted that since the approval of Cabinet of Ministers in June 2022 the project implementation unit is under the Ministry of Finance and the consultation is ongoing.

The Deputy Minister invited the five Chambers to engaged continuously until the stakeholders have a good visibility of the way forward and the progress achieved by the agencies, to ensure the facilitation of a production economy and to take exports to a greater height as well as to ensure smooth facilitation of importation in the perspective of produces and consumers.