E-Services For Exporters Being Implemented

The Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), is moving ahead with the partial implementation of its e-services for exporters, with the projected deadline for the first phase less than two months away.
In an interview with JIS News, JAMPRO’s Executive Director of the Services Sector Department, Venice Pottinger, revealed that in the case of the first phase, it should be fully operational by September 1. “We have been doing it in phases, so parts of it are already up and running like the exporter registration,” she said.
Mrs. Pottinger pointed out that although the development of JAMPRO’s e-services was on-going, it had to be done on a phased basis to accommodate the constraints of financial resources.
She noted that focus on the development of the Corporation’s e-services has been on the trade related agencies.
Mrs. Pottinger explained that the agencies with which JAMPRO had to collaborate were, the Trade Board, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Veterinary Services Division, the Ministry of Finance and Planning, and the Customs Department.
These agencies, she pointed out, were integral in the export process, from the moment a person actually registered as an exporter to when the goods left the wharf.
“We are also working with private sector organizations that are involved in the export chain. In the area of transportation, there are people involved in shipping. We are also working with the Shipping Association of Jamaica to ensure that in using an electronic platform, we are able to expedite the process,” she said.
Mrs. Pottinger said that in order to hasten the export processing, “we have to ensure that when one enters information about an exporter and his potential exports, the information goes into some centralized database and the various agencies are able to access that information in the form they require.”
The ultimate goal of JAMPRO’s e-services venture, Mrs. Pottinger said, “is to allow the exporter to stay in his office and get all of what he wants done over the Internet with agencies talking to each other via the computer services”.
The first phase of the e-services project has already seen the JAMPRO exporter registration form being posted online. Mrs. Pottinger noted that other information has been uploaded as well.
“In the case of Customs, the export and import forms, the C-82 and C-78, are also online. Additionally, there is the payment facility and Customs recently announced its e-payment programme.also with the Exporter registration system, where fees have to be paid, those will also be online,” she explained.
Another important addition to the exporter’s e-services venture is the Trade Board, which has responsibility for issuing the certificates under the various trading agreements that must accompany goods leaving the country. She said this department would form part of the implementation of the venture’s first phase.
Mrs. Pottinger told JIS News that in addition to the significant move being made to have exporters take advantage of the information age, JAMPRO was also seeking to make improvements to its website, www.investjamaica.com.
The website, she explained, is used by JAMPRO as a means of “communicating information to potential investors about what they need to make decisions when investing in Jamaica”.
Restructuring plans intended for the website are primarily geared towards the availability of application forms online.
“We want to ensure that any forms that potential investors in Jamaica may have to fill out, or any applications they would have to make from wherever they are in the world, the positions and capabilities will eventually be placed on the website,” she said.