The ASEAN Single Window online platform aims to enhance cross-border trade and trim both cost and time of doing business across the ASEAN region.
The Philippines aims to interconnect with peers in the region before the year ends via the ASEAN Single Window (ASW), the Department of Finance (DoF) said over the weekend.
“The Philippines and seven other members of the ASEAN are expected to exchange customs and other trade-related documents over a single integrated online platform by year-end,” the DoF said.
According to the agency, this development reflects the effort of the 10-nation bloc to enhance cross-border trade and trim both the cost and the time of doing business across the region.
Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said other ASEAN countries joining the Philippines at the ASW platform include Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei and Cambodia.
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The remaining two countries, Myanmar and Laos, plan to join the ASW come November and December 2019, respectively.
Beltran said six countries already use the ASW as of date, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei who swap over 460,000 customs and other trade-related documents per year at only 10 percent of its normal cost.
“Starting next year, additional documents expected exchanged through the ASW include sanitary and phytosanitary certificates, animal health certificates, self-certification or product of origin and shipping documents,” Beltran said.
“Once the ASW is streamlined and used across ASEAN, businesses will benefit through lower transaction costs and less time to export their goods to countries within the region. Lower transaction costs will, in turn, enhance ASEAN’s trade competitiveness,” he added.
The Philippines will join the ASW through the National Single Window program dubbed as TradeNet. This facilitates online processing of permits, licenses and other clearances for the export and import of goods across the region.
The government aims to have all 76 trade agencies across 18 government departments become fully interconnected via the TradeNet.
Beltran previously said all 76 agencies across the bureaucracy must be connected to the platform by 2022. At least five agencies are seen added to the TradeNet before yearend.
