The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) will launch its Electronic Single Window in 2023 centralising all services supporting inter-country trade and boosting revenue collection.
The regional Electronic Single Window is part of the implementation of the COMESA Digital Free Trade Area (DFTA) and the Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF).
The countries implementing the National Single Windows are Burundi, Comoros, DR Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Kenya is already implementing an electronic single window under the Kenya TradeNet System, which was established as a State Corporation in January 2010. Implementation of the Kenya TradeNet System commenced in 2012 and the system was rolled out in 2013.
COMESA Single Window (COMSW), will be implemented to interface with the NSW of each member state.
Initially, it will interface with the 14 currently operational NSWs and the COMSW will readily enable interface as each remaining seven Members States completes its implementation.
Eventually, the COMSW will interact with all 21 NSWs within COMESA. The electronic trade documents to be exchanged by COMSW will consist of licenses, permits, certificates, and others) in support of cross-border trade transactions.
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 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.
