“Single Window is defined as 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”
UN/CEFACT RECOMMENDATION No. 33
On December 12 an Interagency Working Group of Ukraine on Trade Facilitation held a meeting and decided as follow: in cooperation with UNCTAD and the Interagency Working Group of Ukraine on Single Window and trade facilitation.The UNECE Guide for Trade Facilitation (TFIG) was used at the seminar to initiate assessment of Ukraine's readiness for the implementation of the WTO Agreement on trade facilitation. Follow-up studies will be carried out by UNECE under the methodology of UNCTAD. The final report will be discussed at the conference, scheduled for early 2015, and will be used in parallel with other studies in the preparation of the notification of the WTO about Ukraine's readiness to implement the Agreement.
Mr. Valery Pyatnitsky, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine; Ms. Oksana Reiter, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure (transport); Mr Anatoliy Makarenko,Head of the Customs Service of Ukraine; and a number of other officials from various regulatory agencies and businesses attended the high-level training seminar and commended TFIG and other instruments of the UNECE, aimed at simplifying trade procedures in Ukraine.They supported the recommended actions and promised to help in the development of the UNECE study on Ukraine's readiness to implement trade facilitation and more ambitious national strategy on trade facilitation.
Mr. Vladimir Shchelkunov, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ukraine and Deputy Chairman of the Interagency Working Group confirmed its intention to reorganize the group in the National Committee on Trade Facilitation in accordance with Recommendation 4 of the UNECE Agreement and Article 23.2 of the WTO trade facilitation Agreement. Mr. Mario Apostolov, UNECE Regional Adviser stressed that even if Ukraine will stand before serious problems of security, not less important is the facilitation of international trade, the development of sound policies and the fight against corruption and inefficient procedures.Mr. Paul Hansen from UNCTAD summed up the seminar, stressing the need for the following: the national committee on trade facilitation; assess the readiness of each of the Ministry of Ukraine; compliance deadlines of the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation; Plan of Implementation; and staff and business comunity training.
Training and meeting of the Interagency Group focuses on two key tools: SW (a key theme of cooperation with Ukraine, UNECE) and the joint mechanism for trade facilitation (National Committee on trade facilitation). Mr. Vyacheslav Voronoy, Administration of seaports of Ukraine, made a presentation on the latest developments within the port community information system, which is gradually expanding. Already three ports are included in the system, and through more than 250,000 containers in the port of Odessa were processed up to April 2013; and since the inclusion in the system: 38.000 containers in the port of Ilyichevsk and 46 ships in the port of Yuzhnyi. In addition, 530 users have signed the agreement during the week of preparation by UNECE. As planned, the project of the port community information system will serve as a basis for the further development of transport and trade systems, including the possibility of SW - areas where the UNECE has for many years helping Ukraine.
