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The Nairobian

Kenya gets Sh300m for trade facilitation

Business

By -Victor Ochuonyo | Nov 29, 2012

By Victor Ochuonyo

Nairobi: Kenya’s trade across her borders got a boost from a Sh300 million kitty extended by Investment Climate Facility (ICF).

The funding will go to Kenya Trade Network Agency (Kentrade) to implement the National Electronic Single Window System.

This system will enable submission, receipting, and processing of documentation used in clearing trade-related cargo. It will be the sole entry point for lodging trade transaction documents in Kenya.

The platform will link up key trade stakeholders such as the Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Bureau of Standards, Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services, Port Health Services with clearing and freight forwarding agents. The system will also enable electronic payments of trade transactions.

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The CEO of ICF, Omari Issa, represented ICF while the Minister of Finance, Robinson Githae, signed on behalf of the Government of Kenya. The signing ceremony was witnessed by the Economic Secretary, Ministry of Finance/Treasury, Geoffrey Mwau, the Chairman of Kentrade, General Joseph Kibwana(Rtd), CEO of Kentrade, Mr Alex Kabuga and Michael Makale,Chief Operating Officer,ICF.

The overall objective of the project is to facilitate International trade in Kenya by reducing delays and lowering costs associated with clearance of goods at the Kenyan borders, while maintaining the requisite controls and collection of levies, fees, duties and taxes, where applicable, on imports or exports. Further, this project will help to enhance trade within the East Africa region.

Specifically the project aims at reducing cargo dwell time at the Port of Mombasa from the current eight days to a maximum of three over a period of one year after operationalization.

The project will also reduce cargo dwell time at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from five days to a maximum of one day over a period of one year after operationalisation.

If fully implemented, the system will lower the cargo dwell time for both transit and intra-regional trade consignments from two days to a maximum of one hour.

Kentrade is a Government Agency under the Ministry of Finance with the mandate to facilitate external trade and implement the National Electronic Single Window System which is a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single entry point to fulfil all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements.

Key staekolders set to benefit from the new system include the Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Bureau of Standards, Tea Board of Kenya, Kenya Bankers Association, Kenya Shipping Council, Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services, Kenya Association of Manufacturers, Kenya Maritime Authority, Kenya Shipping Agents Association and Kenya ICT Board.