Online Trade Information Portal | Sunday Observer

Online Trade Information Portal

22 July, 2018

In keeping with the Government’s commitment to enhance trade, investment and exports, the first ever online Trade Information Portal (TIP) was launched on Friday in Colombo.

“Trade is critical to Sri Lanka’s future and is a driving force for the country’s economic growth. The information on the TIP will facilitate the SMEs and the female headed businesses to access information easily as it will be time and cost saving. Therefore, the TIP will serve as a tool to boost trade both in the forms of exports and imports,” Minister of Industries and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen said.

The TIP will be an important milestone in trade facilitation in Sri Lanka and it will provide information on regulatory procedures which is an integral part of trade. The business community has been provided with a useful tool to find information on a single platform. This will be a one stop access point to do trade with Sri Lanka. It will also provide the necessary information on regulatory framework which do not add value to trade, but hinder trade opportunities in some instances, he said.

“With the official launch and operation of TIP, we hope that our business community and other stakeholders will be provided with a mechanism to facilitate their export-import activities.

The Department of Commerce is committed to closely coordinate with the public and private sector as well as international organisations to ensure sustainability of the TIP, he said.

The TIP will provide regulatory information relating to cross- broader transactions all in one place. The trade portal is essentially the starting point to drive industry wide digitization for the trade and logistics community via the National Single Window.

“The TIP aims to change the country’s business environment. With access to right information at the right time, local businesses can confidently venture in to international markets and help Sri Lanka’s economy realise a prosperous future,” Australian High Commissioner Bryce Hutchesson said.

“Sri Lanka is doing a lot to make trade possible. There are plenty of opportunities for the exporters, but they are not using them due to the cost factor. We need the private sector and other government agencies to drive this trade led growth,” Executive Director International Trade Centre Arancha Gonzalez said. The TIP was a requirement of Article 1.2 of the World Trade Organisation’s trade facilitation agreement.

An enabling environment for the trading community is one that allows for faster, fairer, more predictable and transparent processing and clearance of imports and exports, all at the lowest cost to the traders.

In parallel, NTFC is planning the design and implementation of a National Single Window (NSW) for trade and logistics in the near future.

The NSW will engage all parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents at a single-entry point to fulfill all import-export and transit -related regulatory requirements. 

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