Botswana to create trade information portal
Isaac Pinielo | Friday January 30, 2015 15:41
Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) CEO, Letsebe Sejoe said on Wednesday that the move is meant to make sure that Botswana fulfils its World Trade Organisation (WTO) obligations. Speaking at the BITC stakeholder consultative workshop, he said Botswana is required to publish trade information under WTO regulations, in particular, Article 10 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and Articles 1 and 2 of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.
He stated that BITC, in partnership with the World Bank, will create a website that will feature all trade-related information beginning from the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) rate to tariff and non-tariff measures related to importation and exportation of commodities.
He explained that BITC approached the World Bank with the request to access the bank’s Trade Facilitation Support Fund (TFSF). The request was made by the Ministry of Trade and Industry on behalf of BITC, making the initiative a country project.
“The World Bank then agreed to help set up the trade information portal on the terms and conditions that government fully supports the implementation of the project and that all key trade supporting agencies should be consulted prior to implementing the project,” Sejoe said.
He added that the trade portal will lead to reduced administrative and bureaucratic burden, thereby resulting in simplified procedures. He said it will bring down trade costs, improve delivery and lead times while acting as a building block for the National Single Window.
In addition, he said, the portal will improve predictability of the export/import process and improve trade competitiveness and country ranking as well as trade information transparency and efficiency.
“Currently there is no single authoritative point of reference for traders seeking advice on export and import. Traders have to seek information from various trade support agencies because trade information is not stored in a comprehensive and accessible manner,” he said. According to Sejoe, this has resulted in a lot of time and cost required to export commodities which impacts on the country’s trading across borders.
He cited the World Bank’s 2015 Doing Business report, which showed that Botswana has slipped eight positions down the ease of doing business rankings.
From the 189 countries surveyed, Botswana is now placed at position 74 from a revised position of 66 last year. Luc Pugliatti, a World Bank senior consultant who is assisting BITC with the development of the trade portal said this is a low cost offshore hosting model that allows high reliability, high availability and scalability.
He said the international financial institution will be providing the trade portal software toolkit coupled with project implementation support, and financing for implementation and initial operation as well as technology transfer. Pugliatti noted that with the portal there will be no license fees for software, adding that the local information and communications technology (ICT) resource will provide future support.
Explaining about the World Bank trade information portal toolkit, Pugliatti said this is a software toolkit that enables development of a website with specialised facilities for trade related information and “good practice” methodology for implementation and operation.
“Database is designed to allow logical structuring of information. All information is indexed, cross-referenced and dynamically presented to answer traders’ queries. “One will also find contact form for queries targeted to specific agencies.
This is a plain language web page design facilities with help features, latest news, announcements, events and publications, value added subscription facilities and dual language,” he said.
Pugliatti also indicated that BITC will take the lead on implementing the trade portal, adding that a collaborative management structure will be formed comprising all stakeholders. He said collaborative arrangements between stakeholders will be formalised.
Meanwhile, Lesotho is said to be the first country in Southern Africa to establish a trade portal, having been launched in March 2014. The portal is housed and managed at the Lesotho One-Stop Business Facilitation Centre (OBFC). Florence Motoa-Mokhesi, director of OBFC, acknowledged that the portal has helped that country in that there are now less people visiting the various offices because information is available anytime online. She also stated that the portal has enhanced compliance on trading across borders.