The National Single Window Portal system has saved US$4.55 billion for businesses in completing customs clearance procedures. — Photo courtesy of Viettel

The National Single Window system developed by Viettel Solutions, which helps digitalise all documents and processes in customs clearance, has been given the Sao Khue Award 2020 in the e-government category – the most prestigious honour for the Vietnamese IT and software industry.

Before applying the system, import-export firms had to complete a lot of paperwork at different agencies when doing customs procedures. This cost them time and money.

The launch of the National Single Window has reduced customs clearance time by 7 to 8 days, while saving more than US$2,000 in storage fees per shipment of goods a day. The acceleration of goods import and export activities thanks to this mechanism also makes an important contribution to improving the competitiveness and integration of enterprises.

The system has digitalised 188 administrative procedures at 13 ministries and sectors, handling 2.6 million applications from 34,000 businesses. It helped save some VND106.9 trillion ($4.55 billion). It has also officially connected to the ASEAN single window of six countries including Brunei, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, while it is expected to expand to other international trade organisations.

There were over 191,000 certificates of origin (C/O) sent from Viet Nam to other countries. It is expected that the system would be officially connected to Myanmar and Laos as well as the National Public Service portal in 2020.

During the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing in Viet Nam, customs clearance activities have still been implemented thanks to the system.

Viettel Group was honoured with 21 out of total 112 prizes at the Sao Khue 2020 Award. — VNS