Times Of Swaziland: 430 DOCUMENTS IN TRADE PORTAL

430 DOCUMENTS IN TRADE PORTAL
================================================================================
BY ASHMOND NZIMA  on 30/09/2020 23:35:00


EZULWINI – The Eswatini Trade Information Portal (ETIP) aims to close the
information divide between large businesses and micro, small, medium
enterprises.
That is the feeling of Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini. Yesterday, the
premier led guests to the Eswatini Revenue Authority (SRA) headquarters in
Ezulwini to kickstart ETIP, which became live yesterday. This is simply a
‘one-stop shop’ for trade information and it will benefit mainly exporters
and importers.
The portal, according to the PM, contains more than 430 documents from at least
22 different sources. They include legal documents, procedures, measures, forms,
trade agreements and other pertinent market intelligence.
“One can only imagine the amount of stress traders had to go through in
searching for this information before the establishment of this portal.
“Our trade information was sitting and kept in different agencies and
ministries. From a perspective of a trader, this was cumbersome, not smart, time
consuming and very costly,” said the PM.
The PM dubbed the portal as a window into Eswatini, highligiting that and it
could not have come at a better time than this, in a COVID-19 environment, which
limits movement of persons from one place to the other.
“It is a key step towards a simpler, faster and lower cost trade facilitation
environment where small or big, national or international businesses, would have
equal access to regulatory information available in a single integrated website.
“The Eswatini Information portal will provide the business community with
complete, timely and up-to-date information relating to trade from a single
website that is comprehensive in scope, user friendly, interactive and
accessible, using a single search engine,” said the PM.
Platform
The PM further noted that the platform would improve compliance.
“Traders and investors with access to one window of information tend to have a
better understanding of regulatory requirements associated with exportation,
importation and transiting of their goods, for them to naturally comply.
“With this portal, users will be able to identify formalities and procedures
that may be inconsistent or redundant and thereby accordingly advise government
to make the necessary amendments,” he said.
The portal can be accessed on logging onto https://www.eswatinitradeportal.com/.
Witnessed
Ministers Manqoba Khumalo (Commerce, Industry and Trade) and his Public Service
as well his Economic Planning and Development counterparts Christian Ntshangase
and Dr Tambo Gina, also witnessed the festivities.
Support for the portal is provided by the World Bank Group with funding under
the Trade Facilitation Support Programme (TFSP). The TFSP is funded by nine
donor partners: Australia, Canada, the European Commission, the Netherlands,
Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, and the United Kingdom. This
initiative—implemented by IFC and the World Bank—assists countries seeking
to align their trade practices with the WTO TFA.