The Government of Eswatini, through the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade (and supported by the WB and IFC), launched the Eswatini Trade Information Portal (ETIP).
The ETIP will make all regulatory trade related information and other information easily available on a single platform (website). The uploaded information will include trade regulations and procedures, laws, administrative procedures, guidance notes, applicable fees, forms, licenses, permits and penalties. Also, the ETIP will catalogue international, regional, and bi-lateral trade agreements to which Eswatini is a party. The aim is to provide transparency and predictability of trade procedures and, in doing so, increase the compliance level and reduce the cost of doing business for the trade. This will be helpful to traders, investors, consumers, and government agencies, and will ultimately support the growth of trade.
Ecorys and Imani collected, analysed, and uploaded all the relevant data onto a Trade Information Portal (website provided by IFC), and assisted the Government of Eswatini with activities to launch the website and implement services to allow sustainability of the website.
The Scope of the work consisted of the following components:
- Inception phase leading to the development of an Implementation Plan for the project. Inception phase includes an inception workshop with senior stakeholders.
- Collection of all relevant data and information:
- Process and content identification
- Process and content analysis and uploading (uploading of relevant laws, regulations, measures and HS Code Table and related tariffs).
- Developing and eTip Policy and Procedures manual
- GoE Team Training
- Content Review and revision
- Design of a publicity and awareness campaign to advertise the trade portal prior to the launch and thereafter; and
- Design of a package of survey and evaluation tools aimed at measuring the effectiveness of the portal on trade comprising initial baseline measurements.