Nathan Associates managed a program to support implementation of the ASEAN Single Window (ASW) as called for in the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint. ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, consists of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

ASEAN Member States agreed to establish an ASW by 2012 to connect 10 national single windows. Each national window will expedite border clearance of goods by providing traders a single point for submitting clearance documentation and data.

The ASW will provide a secure and efficient mechanism for communication among the national windows that reduces the cost of doing business for ASEAN traders, encourages trade and investment in and with ASEAN, and results in greater transparency, efficiency, and savings in government operations.

Based in Jakarta, the ASW project supported the development of a legal framework for the cross-border exchange of electronic transaction data, the harmonization and standardization of electronic data needed to process and clear shipments, and the design and implementation of the ASW prototype.

The project also provided technical assistance to member states that were still establishing national windows and to further engage the private sector in ASW development. To assist Viet Nam Customs in drafting a master plan template for its national window, the project organized workshops with public and private sector leaders, a fact-finding mission with ministries involved in shipment clearance, and drafted the master plan template, an activity schedule, and associated documents.

The master plan was approved and is now being implemented.

The ASW project was funded by USAID and operated under the ADVANCE program of the U.S. Department of State and USAID.

Please contact Rachid Benjelloun, Chief of Party, at .

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