West Blue Consulting Schooled Journalists On National Single Window

A one day workshop for Ghanaian and Nigerian journalists to sensitize them on the National single window has been held at the Royal senchi, Akosombo, in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

The workshop, organized by West Blue consulting afforded journalists the opportunity to understand what the national single window is about and the benefit it is to the country when fully implemented.

The country has already started benefitting from the National Single Window as the Ghana custom exceeded its revenue target for last year as a result of significant improvement in the processes at the port.

The national single window which was initiated in 2015 by government is “A facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single entry point to fulfill all import, export and transit related regulatory requirements”.

It brings together all the relevant agencies in the export and import chain to a single platform to reduce the human element thereby improving efficiency and increase government revenue.

According to west blue, the Ghana National Single Window will simplify, standardize and harmonize trade processes within the various agencies and will be integrated within the national single window framework.

These processes will cover the financial, regulatory and the ports and logistics procedures of the international trade supply chain.

Opening the one day workshop, the Chief Executive Officer of West Blue, Ghana, Valentina Mintah, recognized the media as an important tool for national development hence the need to sensitize personnel for effective partnership for institutional building and nation building.

According to her African importers and exporters are not competitive on the international market largely because of excessive bureaucracy which leads to number of days to complete import and export processing and their attendant cost.

Chief Executive Officer of West Blue, Ghana, Valentina Mintah

But the CEO said the introduction of the national single window platform will cure the bureaucracy in the system by reducing the human interface, increase transparency, fast processing and reduce cost.

“A Single Window is a one-stop to exchange information between traders and government agencies. It greatly reduces the complexity, time and costs involved in international trade” she said.

According to World Bank’s Trading Across Border Report 2016, Ghana is ranked 171 out of 189 countries globally and 36 in sub- sahara Africa out of 47 countries.

Government, according to West blue is committed in ensuring that the National Single Window is fully implemented and it has received full support from the Ghana custom service and all industry players.

The single window will provide the necessary technical, architectural and administrative support for Ghana custom to take over the pre arrival classification and valuation process for import and export.

Many countries, including developing countries and transition economies, regard Single Window as an important instrument to increase the competitiveness of their national economy.

Some Ghanaian Journalists who attended the workshop spoke to Modern Ghana and this is what they have to say “the workshop was an eye opener. It helps us to understand the processes in the international trade chain, the difficulties and the need for Ghana to embrace the National Single Window to generate more revenue for national development”.

They, therefore, declare their commitment in ensuring that the National Single Window framework becomes a success.