About the Working Visit of the Delegation

of the Customs Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Singapore

 

According to the instruction of Head of the State and within the framework of the Asian Development Bank Program, from January 26 to 29, 2005, delegation of the Customs service headed by Mr. Saparbaev, Chairman of the Customs Control Committee of the RK Ministry of Finance visited Singapore.

During the visit, the delegation took part in the “Trade Facilitation and Modernization of Customs System” Conference, met the “Crimson Logic” company that is  the operator of the “Trade Net” unified automated system; visited the “Woodlands” Customs point, international “Changi” airport and the “Tadjong Pagar” sea port.

On-place visit showed, that the facilitated introduction of information and communication technologies that create maximum opportunities for development of international trade has been determined as the key elements to facilitate trade, instead of use paper documents.

The existing “Trade Net” system of electronic exchange of information unite all participants in trade operations and include all government agencies and numerous enterprises. It is based on use of the Internet platform instead of communication lines, and this significantly lightens access of participants in foreign economic activity to “Trade Net” through Internet.

At present, processing of trade documents through this system allowed to reduce the processing time to 10 minutes. It works 24 hours instead of serving clients only within working hours.   

All the paper documents used in foreign trade are reduced to only one e-document that is completed in the on-line regime and is single for use for all trade purposes. The e-document is the basis for the information system. According to experts, the “Trade Net” system allows the participants in foreign trade activity to save up to 1 billion USD a year.

Effective realization of the project required from Singapore government consistent work based on close cooperation between the government and private sectors. At the initial stage of creating the system, one of the most important factor was establishment and operation of the intergovernmental coordination committee and a company that operated as a service provider and ensured development and operation of the system.

As a result, Singapore Customs has fully moved to the system of pre-arrival declaration where Customs payments are made electronically.

As a result of visit to Singapore, Kazakh Customs has developed concrete measures aimed at successful realization of the tasks on creating “E-Customs” as the integral part of “E-Governance” of the Republic of Kazakhstan.