– World Bank says blueprint handed over in August 2018 – Govt. says what was handed over was not a blueprint By Charindra Chandrasena The establishment of a National Single Window (NSW) for trade has been delayed by nearly a year due to disagreements between the Government and the World Bank on the form of delivery of its blueprint. The NSW, which was initiated in early 2018, was to be based on this blueprint provided by the World Bank to the Government, but according to the Government this blueprint has reached the National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) only last week. However, according to the World Bank this blueprint had been sent to the NTFC in August last year. “In August 2018, all twelve technical reports comprising the blueprint were circulated to National Trade Facilitation Committee members, covering each aspect of the scope and design of the NSW. The objective of these reports is to facilitate Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) decisions on implementation of the NSW and prepare the ground for the procurement of hardware, software, and expertise to roll out the new NSW system,” the World Bank stated in an official response to queries made by The Sunday Morning Business on Friday (26). However, when we reached the NTFC for comment it countered by saying that what was provided by the World Bank was not what had been agreed upon. “The World Bank had promised to deliver the blueprint to the Government by October 2018. Twelve technical reports were presented to the NTFC in August, but these are highly technical and complex reports. This is not the blueprint we were expecting to base our NSW on,” said Head of the NTFC Secretariat Sunil Jayarathne, who is also a Director of Customs Department. The NTFC has been established to coordinate the implementation of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA), which Sri Lanka adopted in 2013. “We informed the Secretary to the Treasury Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga about two months ago that the blueprint had not been received, he held a meeting with World Bank representative Tatiana Nenova, the Programme Leader for Sri Lanka and Maldives. At this meeting she accepted that the blueprint had not been provided and that is why it has finally been sent to us now,” said Jayarathne. He added that the way forward following the receipt of the blueprint has to be decided by the government in consultation with the 23 members of the NTFC. However, the World Bank statement said that it has been supporting the preparation for the National Single Window (NSW) through technical reports to form a “Blueprint” for the scope and design of the NSW. “Considering that NSW is a complex undertaking involving technological, legal procedural and business process changes involving multiple government and private stakeholders, the World Bank Group places high importance on the preparatory and foundational aspects of the NSW project contained in the Blueprint. The Blueprint captures the most important decisions concerning the NSW project – ranging from the governance and operational models, the functional and technical architectures, the financial, administrative and legal arrangements and the capacity building and change management aspects,” it said. Sri Lanka has agreed to establish an NSW by 2022 but the government has to connect between 40 and 50 line agencies on a single platform, which could prove time consuming. Expert project delivery company PM Group had developed the blueprint of NSW and sent it to the World Bank for review in July last year. The blueprint has been prepared based on the comments received from a number of meetings held with stakeholders and includes the governance model which should be approached by the government and also ways to implement the NSW. Following the examination of the blueprint received from the World Bank, the Government has to interlink and streamline over fifty Government institutions relating to trade including Sri Lanka Customs and Sri Lanka Ports Authority. One among the steps Government has to do is to identify a campaign agency to lead the implementation of the NSW which could be the Treasury, Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade or even a completely new agency, according to sources. Furthermore, a Project Steering Committee has to be established with the participation of agencies to ensure smooth implementation of the application. Following Cabinet approval, whenever it may be, the Government has to find a funding source, may be a Public Private Partnership (PPP), a loan or a grant. Emerging economies in the region such as Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Japan have implemented Public Private Partnership (PPP) model for their NSWs. The NWS is intended to provide a central contact point for all the stakeholders and the Government agencies involved in trade and will facilitate the trading community in Sri Lanka providing access to a number of online systems developed for regulatory agencies. It is expected to result in a growth of export revenue, as well as supporting importers to fast-track their requirements.