JAKARTA, April 4, 2023 – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) held the sixth symposium on the ASEAN Single Window (ASW) today to further boost the private sector engagement and expand the use of ASW to enhance trade efficiency.
Entitled Reflecting on Progress and Looking toward the Future, the virtual forum highlighted ASW achievements and presented updates on the 2022 priority actions and the plans for 2023 to more than 200 government officials, private sector leaders, and trade community representatives from the ASEAN Member States (AMS).
The symposium participants were welcomed by the ASEAN Secretariat’s Director of Market Integration Directorate Dr Le Quang Lan and Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. of the US Mission to ASEAN Kate Rebholz.
“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to ASEAN Single Window Steering Committee and USAID for their partnership at this pivotal event, which serves as a platform for ASEAN government officials, trade experts, and the private sector to share their views, insights, and recommendations on the best practices of trade digitalisation. This symposium serves as a catalyst for further collaboration on how we can continue to enhance our trade digitalisation efforts,” said Dr Lan in his opening remarks.
“The United States is proud to work together with ASEAN to help its members operationalise the ASEAN Single Window, and we are excited about the future that includes further integrating ASEAN’s single window with the single window in the United States,” said Ms Rebholz.
The participants of the symposium were informed that the AMS joined the ASW Live Operation which enabled the granting of preferential tariff treatment based on the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) electronic Certificate of Origin (e-Form D) exchanged through the ASW. This step has brought impactful and tangible results to ASEAN businesses with more than 1 million e-Form D exchanged in 2022 and an estimated saving of 6 million number of days of business operation which has led to a cost saving of US$150 million.
Participants also learned that ASEAN is ready to phase out the issuance of the hard-copy and only adopt e-Form D as part of the priority economic deliverables in 2023 as well as the expanded the scope of ASW to enable exchange of the ASEAN Customs Declaration Document (ACDD) and electronic Phytosanitary (e-Phyto) certificates.
Facilitated by the ASEAN-USAID Inclusive Growth in ASEAN through Innovation, Trade, and E-Commerce, the symposium also presented the outcome of the ASW Trader Survey which was conducted in 2022. The survey assesses the use of the electronic certificates to better understand trade demographics, benefits, issues, and constraints in utilising the electronic certificate from the perspective of exporters and importers.
The symposium continued with a panel discussion on the current performance of the ASW, the way forward for ASEAN to be able to exchange electronic documents with non-ASEAN countries and the opportunity to connect with the private sector platforms. The symposium concluded with a presentation on the adoption of new technologies for the ASW and ended with a closing remark from the USAID/ASEAN office.
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