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National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Md. Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the government has decided to establish a National Single Window (NSW) for trade facilitation, and NBR will act as its lead agency.
He assured that NBR will extend its all-out cooperation to the businesses for expanding the country's export basket to achieve US$ 50 billion export target by 2021.
The NBR chief also said the government has undertaken a number of projects for implementation of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).
He said these while speaking at a roundtable on trade facilitation in the capital on Wednesday.
International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh (ICC,B) organised the roundtable jointly with ICC Paris and Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation (GATF).
At present, ICC Paris along with Global Alliance is conducting a number of projects on trade facilitation in Vietnam, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Morocco.
Now it is planning to add 15 more countries, including Bangladesh, for expanding trade facilitation projects. The roundtable is organised as part of the plan to identify suitable projects for Bangladesh.
Jose R Perales Hernandez, deputy director - GATF, Washington, and Valerie Claire Picard, deputy director - GATF, Paris, delivered presentation on the projects under implementation in various countries.
The Alliance was launched at WTO's 10th Ministerial Conference in December 2015. It is supported by the governments of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.
TFA is a binding multilateral trade agreement among the WTO members. It was concluded in December 2013, and officially entered into force in February 2017. Bangladesh ratified TFA in September 2016.
Ministry of Commerce Secretary Shubhashish Bose in his speech said Bangladesh has been under a liberalised trade regime.
All rules, regulations and statutory regulatory orders related to trade facilitation are published and made available on the website.
Import licensing system was abolished back in 1985 for all products other than the products that require special import permission for health, environment and other reasons.
Besides, the number of pre-clearance signatures has been reduced to five from 25, and export clearance time for 95 per cent of consignments has been reduced from 72 hours in 1999 to three hours now.
Customs department is trying to reduce the procedure and release time further through automation, he added.
ICC,B President Mahbubur Rahman thanked the NBR chairman and the commerce secretary for joining the roundtable as well as for assuring the businesses of extending all required infrastructural and logistic support to increase the country's export.
Incepta Pharmaceuticals Managing Director Abdul Muktadir suggested setting up a help-desk at NBR to respond to the queries regarding HS Code and other information to facilitate both export and import of raw materials and capital machineries.
Md. Fazlul Hoque, Managing Director of Plummy Fashions, focused on quick delivery of samples, sent to exporters by buyers, from Dhaka Custom House.
"Delays in responding to the queries of the buyers in most cases lead to loss of business. We have to be prompt in responding to the buyers in order to remain competitive," he added.
Former FBCCI president A K Azad, DCCI president Abul Kasem Khan, ICC,B executive board member Md. Fazlul Hoque, ICC,B banking commission chairman and chief executive officer of BIAC Muhammad A Rumee Ali, SS Shipping and Chartering managing director Shahjahan Khan, Bengal Shipping Line chairman Mohammad Abdul Aawal, World Economic Forum government engagement lead, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan Sheikh Tanjib Islam, Apex Footwear Limited CCO Syed Masud Nizam, and ICC,B secretary general Ataur Rahman were also present in the meeting, among others.