Tajikistan is the first in Central Asia to launch its trade facilitation portal – www.tjtrade.tj.
The portal is an online platform containing full information about the trade system of the country and its foreign economic activities. The trade facilitation portal provides description of import and export procedures, displays all the documents and forms that businesses must submit and/or collect from each border regulatory agencies and highlights the fees and charges that traders will be required to pay.
The portal has been developed and operationalized by International Trade Center (ITC) and UNCTAD with financial support of the Swiss Government,
ITC has been providing technical support to establish the portal and build national capacity to operate it effectively. In one year and a half, 39 product specific export and import procedures, which include 1500 goods and products were documented and continuously updated on the portal under ITC guidance. These procedures were also certified by border regulatory agencies in order to validate that displayed information is correct and traders can benefit from it.
The Tajikistan trade facilitation portal was officially presented at a ceremony in Hyatt Regency Dushanbe Hotel on April 26.
The event was organized by the Ministry of Economy Development and Trade of Tajikistan and International Trade Centre and UNCTADunder financial support of the Government of Switzerland and other development partners, namely the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The ceremony was attended by more than 100 participants from ministries and agencies, diplomatic missions and international organizations active in Tajikistan, private sector and media as well as experts in information technology solutions.
Addressing the Tajik business community, officials, diplomatic missions, and international partners, at the portal launch ceremony, First Deputy Minister of the Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan, Zavqi Zavqizoda, in particular, said that the portal had been developed upon instruction from President Emomali Rahmon for the purpose of simplifying and improving the procedure of export of domestic goods, diversifying the export and improving its potential.
According to him, the portal is the first experience and the tool in the country’s foreign trade activity. “It provides domestic, foreign entrepreneurs and other stakeholders an opportunity to receive information on procedures and documentation for export and import of goods, reducing entrepreneurs’ time and costs,” Zavqizoda said.
Ms. Alina Fetisova, International consultant on Trade Facilitation at ITC, Geneva noted that as a next step, ITC would like to explore possibilities to assist Tajikistan in leveraging information in the portal to design simplification reforms.
Sanja Bojanic, Deputy Country Director in UNDP Tajikistan, noted that the portal is a huge support for implementation of the export promotion program which is financed by UNDP with support of funding from the Government of Finland
