Dominica is leading the way in the OECS region in taking steps to increase the efficiency of clearing of goods at its ports.
Officials of the International Financial Corporation, which is the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group, revealed this at a Ministry of Trade press conference last week.
Officials say the Government of Dominica was first among the OECS to request the technical expertise from the IFC for the complete automation of its border control agencies.
The rest of the region followed hence the Trade Logistics Caribbean Project.
“Dominica is the first one to actually [establish] automation for input declarations across all technical agencies,” says Lazar Ristic, Trade Logistics Specialist with the World Bank Group. “I would say, when you look at the OECS, Dominica has the ability to say that it is automated …the best in reducing the time and costs of trade.In comparison to other islands, this is very advanced.”
The agencies to be fully automated are the Dominica Bureau of Standards; Plant Protection and Quarantine Unit; the Veterinary Health, Produce Chemist and Environmental Health Departments, and the Fisheries Division.
These systems will interface with the Customs and Excise Division.
The Bureau of Standards is the first to be fully automated in Dominica and the rest of the OECS region.
“We are working with three bureaus- here, Grenada and St. Lucia and as we’ve been going around egging them on, [we’ve been saying that] Dominica has launched already so it’s time for you to push. I would say that Dominica has really led the way; the Bureau as well as the Port. A lot of reform has taken place at the Port and there has been uptake of the recommendations,” says Alicia Stephens, Operations Officer at Investment Climate of the World Bank Group.
She specifically mentioned Ernie Boland, IT Programmer at the Customs and Excise Division who developed the web-based service which will allow all automated departments to communicate with the Customs Division.
“Because of what he’s done in Dominica, we’ve been able to use that in other countries. He’s given support to the project. That’s something to be very proud of,” Stephens added.
She noted that the group’s lead consultant on the project is also from Dominica.
The project is funded by the Government of Australia and is expected to fully come on-stream by June 2015.