By Neo Kolane
The ministry of trade and industry through the private sector competitiveness and economic diversification project II launched the Lesotho National Single Window Project (LNSW) in Maseru this week.
The objective of the single window project is to provide real-time and cost-effective sharing of information between traders and government agencies.
It will also provide predictability and transparency on all the regulatory requirements and expedite the movement, release, and clearance of goods at the borders including goods in transit.
The system is a one-stop facility for cross-border transactions aimed at reducing the regulatory costs and time to conduct business.
In his remarks the minister of trade and industry Thabiso Molapo said the ministry of trade and industry is mandated to enhance trade for all by reducing the regulatory costs and time to conduct business transactions.
Molapo explained that to survive in the changing global trading eco-system, Lesotho must ensure the businesses always remain relevant and competitiveness.
He said this call, the ministry of trade and industry undertakes to implement the investment climate reforms premised in the notion of streamlining all the business processes to improve the lead times to do business in Lesotho.
Molapo also commented on the issue of international trade saying it continues to play a pivotal role in economic transformation of many African countries.
“However, our businesses, especially the micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are facing numerous challenges to exploit these opportunities and sometimes their gains are eroded by the unclear, bureaucratic, and costly processes.
“To redress this situation and integrate MSMEs into global value chains, the government through the advice of the National Trade Facilitation Committee conceived the single window concept.
“The current, manual and fragmented import and export documentation proved to be costly, inconsistent, time-consuming, and unpredictable.
“The manual transaction are also prone to manipulation and the probability of omitting essential export documents is high resulting in delays and penalties,” Molapo explained.
He enlightened that the birth of the LNSW presents a window of opportunity to be harnessed by both government and the private sector.
Molapo stipulated that the initiative came at an opportune time after Lesotho has ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement.
The Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA) commissioner general Thabo Khasipe commented on the issue saying that LNSW will certainly make it easy for trade to comply with requirements before goods arrive at the portals.
Khasipe said what obtains on the ground at the border posts is the real barometer of how good Lesotho aspires to be as a country in terms of trade facilitation.
“The World Trade Oganisation Trade Facilitation Agreement recommends single window while at the same time encourages countries to move away from border control to border movement,” Khasipe said.
He said that the World Customs Organisation and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) require that countries to periodically undertake time release studies to assess how long it takes for traders to conclude cross border transactions having completed all formalities.
Some of the formalities include obtaining requisite certificates, licenses, permits, and other measures to be compiled with in advance of arrival at the ports.
In his turn, the project manager of the private sector competitiveness and economic diversification project Chaba Mokuku explained the launch as a milestone towards digitization of government to business services in Lesotho.
Mokuku said the ultimate goal of the project is to transform the private sector into an engine of economic growth, that will create jobs, reduce the government’s wage bill, increase trade and reduce levels of poverty in this country where approximately half of the population lives in abject poverty.
