Cambodia launches national single window to facilitate trade activities

PHNOM PENH (Bernama-Xinhua): Cambodia on Tuesday launched the National Single Window (NSW), aiming at facilitating import and export activities as well as improving investment climate.

Speaking at the launching event here, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said the NSW was designed to be an electronic, online service to facilitate faster and more transparent international trade procedures.

He said the NSW is a facility that allows parties involved in international trade to lodge standardised information and documents with a single-entry point to fulfil all import, export and transit-related regulatory requirements.

"It will reduce costs and provide consistency and certainty to the total process from the start of the regulatory requirements to the clearance of goods," he said.

Hun Manet said the NSW will promote trade facilitation, boost business efficiency, enhance fair competition, and improve investment climate.

He added that the NSW has also connected to the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) Single Window for exchanging data and information with other Asean member states.

In a congratulatory message on the launching event, Angela Ellard, deputy director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), said the NSW underlined Cambodia's commitment to the implementation of the trade facilitation agreement at the WTO.

"I'm convinced that as the implementation of the trade facilitation agreement progresses, Cambodia's economy will see even more growth," she said in a pre-recorded speech.

Cambodia's international trade rose 12 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, according to the General Department of Customs and Excise's latest report.

The Southeast Asian country recorded a total trade volume of US$12.5 billion during the January-March period this year, up 12 per cent from US$11.16 billion over the same period 2023, the report said. - Bernama-Xinhua