Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan went to Twitter on Monday to praise the recent Pakistan Single Window (PSW) Act 2021. He claimed it as, “Another landmark reform by PTI government.”
Another landmark reform by PTI govt – the Pakistan Single Window (PSW) Act 2021. It paves the way for ease in imports & exports. PSW will bring $500 mn annual savings & reduce cargo clearance time from days to hrs by integrating 75 regulatory depts:
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 12, 2021
He said that the act would increase annual savings by $500 million and “reduce cargo clearance time from days to hours by integrating 75 regulatory departments.”
He said that the act paves the way for ease of doing international trade, both imports, and exports.
According to the Prime Minister, the PSW will be managed by an independent authority, and the act will be pivotal in unlocking the potential of the country for becoming a hub of international trade and transit.
customs, banks, port authorities, shipping companies & brokers etc. An indep authority will manage the PSW which will be pivotal in unlocking Pakistan’s potential to become a hub for international transit & trade.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 12, 2021
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National media agency tribune mentions that the country had introduced a system for pre-arrival clearing of the cargo to make the system more efficient and smoother.
According to the website for PSW, the vision for the project is to emerge as the hub for services, facilitating cross border trading, in Pakistan and beyond; Establishing simplified information exchange among public and private sector stakeholders; Reducing cost and time by at least 50% from the existing level in cross border trade; Providing ICT based platform for B2B, B2G, G2G and C2C transactions in Pakistan; To establish a reliable ICT-based trade information management system to improve efficiency; to simplify and harmonize processes ensuring transparent risk-based enforcement.
Services offered include integrated declaration, automated routing, connected government & paperless processing, risk assessment, port community system, e-payments of levies, knowledge management, and other value-added services.
These services will allow the information transfer between two parties electronically. The PSW will identify and exchange information about goods that require additional certifications from any government agency.
The back-end processes of many Other Government Departments for cross-border trade will be automated and made paperless to enable tracking. PSW will incorporate risk-based selectivity criterion not only for Customs but also for other key OGAs to ensure that the consignments are selected for examination according to the principle of risk management.
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Overall, Pakistan Single Window is an integrated one-stop system for the importers and government to handle all the cumbersome tasks easily due to integration via technology.