Government of Timor-Leste

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport and Communications inaugurated the creation of the Port Stakeholders Committee (PSC) and the ASYCUDA World System on Wednesday, August 15, at the Port Authority of Timor-Leste (APORTIL) to ensure efficiency and facilitate trade in the Port of Dili.

The creation of the CIP will promote an integrated services methodology that will allow all port stakeholders, such as the Customs Authority, APORTIL and stowage companies, to work together in a more efficient way and to enable the establishment of best practices and working procedures, with a view to an optimized and efficient movement of containers in the Port area from the moment of their arrival until the moment they leave the port gates.

Port Stakeholders will now be able to discuss issues of common concern, such as storage and congestion issues, plan solutions and implement a joint strategic plan to quickly correct potential obstacles to the process. The benefits to trade and to importers will be a better system for the management and handling of containers by all stakeholders, the reduction of delays in the removal of containers from the port and the reduction of delivery times, which will facilitate trade by reducing storage charges and lowering the overall costs of importing goods. The PSC will also bring confidence and clarity to the import process, allowing, for example, that some goods to be resold earlier while also promoting trade, planning and business projections.

ASYCUDA (Automated System for Customs Data) is a fully integrated system of customs management information that deals with every step in the customs process, from the identification of high risk goods to be inspected to the processing of payments for release and delivery of the goods. The installation of the ASYCUDA World system at APORTIL could be of great help to APORTIL in handling manifestos and information on containers sent electronically by shipping companies before, during and after the arrival of the vessels. Currently, APORTIL registers the vessels and their respective cargoes manually, which is an expensive, time-consuming and error prone process.

The use of the ASYCUDA World system will bring significant benefits to APORTIL as it will allow APORTIL to view information about a vessel and its cargo electronically sent to Customs by shipping agents. The system can also provide APORTIL with accurate and timely statistics on a vessel and its cargo. This launch is a precursor to the National Single Window of Timor-Leste, which aims to facilitate trade with ASEAN countries and members of the CPLP, including through compliance with WTO accession requirements.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by members of the new Port Stakeholders Committee, the Tax Reform Commission, representatives of USAID, the Customs Reform Program and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and development partners that have been providing technical assistance to Customs reform.