Steering Committee Meeting. Minutes of the First Meeting on 12 th September 2012 at the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Tajikistan

Transcription

1 Steering Committee Meeting Minutes of the First Meeting on 12 th September 2012 at the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Tajikistan EU Project Support to the Establishment of Single Window for Export, Import and Transit Procedures in the Republic of Tajikistan Opening Europe Aid/131680/C/SER/TJ. The agenda is attached at Annex 1 and the attendees list at Annex 2. Mr. Filipov welcomed the participants and introduced the agenda. It was agreed that there were no objections to the agenda so the meeting proceeded. Approval of Draft of the Project Steering Committee Terms of Reference Mr. Filipov ran through the proposed membership and noted that his colleague at the EU Delegation who is the Head of Operations, Mr Ovidiu MIC would be the Steering Committee representative and that in his absence Mr. Filipov would stand in. Mr. Filipov, as the EU Project Manager, will of course attend all these meetings. Mr. Filipov ran through the Steering Committee Terms of Reference set out at Annex 2 to the Inception Report. It was noted that the Steering Committee Secretary will be John Donnelly, Team Leader of the Project. Mr. Filipov invited questions and remarks and noted that future proposals could be discussed at the Steering Committee meetings should someone propose a change. Mr. Rakhmatov suggested that Terms of Reference was perhaps not the correct term but that it should be the Procedures of the Steering Committee. He also added that Mr. Roziev should be a member of the Steering Committee. There were no objections and Mr. Roziev will be added as the seventh member of the Steering Committee. Mr. Filipov suggested that, if there were no objections to the change then, a new amended document would be distributed and Mr. Roziev would be the seventh member of the Steering Committee. Presentation of the Inception Report and the Summary plans for next reporting period The presentation of Mr. Donnelly and Mr. Chatziiosifidis followed. The presentations were available in hard copy, but can be obtained from Mr. Donnelly at johndonn@runbox.com. Questions and answers on the Inception report and the plans for the next reporting period. Mr. Filipov invited all questions from the attendees. SRS Consultation

2 Mr. Roziev asked what the period planned was for consultation on the SRS document. Mr. Chatziiosifidis informed the meeting that there would be a 3 week consultation period with all stakeholders using a light version of the SRS that was easier to digest by readers and would be accompanied by a presentation of the essence of the SRS and the workings of the system. Mr. Roziev noted that the SW Coordination Committee would need to be presented the full SRS and before this all agencies should have been consulted. Mr. Filipov noted that the consultations must happen quickly. We want a good deliverable but this must engage the stakeholders. However, the SRS will determine what equipment will be required and this will be needed very quickly to commence the tender process for the equipment. SWIS Interfaces Mr. Filipov raised the issue from the presentation of Mr. Chatsiiosifidis on the interfaces of the SWIS with the Customs system (UAIS) and the business registration system of the Tax Committee (BRIS). He urged Mr. Rakhmatov to assist with both issues. For the BRIS, the Tax Committee have informed the Project team that they are happy to provide access to the BRIS but need some information in return. Mr. Filipov requested that M. Rakhmatov, with Mr. Soliev at the Tax Committee, help resolve these issues. Working Groups Progress Mr. Filipov requested to GIZ to give an update of the progress of the Working Groups. Mr. Rasulov noted that his colleague Ms Khushvakhtova would expand on this. Ms Khusvakhtova proceeded to give an update on the progress of the Working Groups. (i) E documents/e signature Working Group An amended draft of the Law on Electronic Documents is ready. The work on the Law on Electronic Digital Signature will be difficult, but it has commenced taking the recommendations from the now closed RTLC/USAID project. However, GosSecret are against any changes because they have been working based on this law to implement the digital signature, but the Working Group is looking to the future and how this law must evolve. In parallel, there is an e-government working group under the President with whom they must also liaise. (ii) Permits and SW agency internal regulations Working Group A legal expert has been engaged by GIZ to assist the Working Group, which has had two meetings to date, to collate proposals for amendments to the Permits law and produce a draft of the amended Permits law for discussion between the Working Group members. Progress has been good to date. (iii) Data Harmonisation Working Group

3 An expert has been engaged by GIZ to work on an analysis of the permit documents, the Intrasoft team are also carrying out detailed work in this area. The Working Group will work on the simplification of documents at the SW agencies and the adjustment to international standards like already done with the Certificate of Conformity. Ms Khusvakhtova mentioned that GIZ were funding an international expert to commence work on Business Process Optimisation and he would start on Monday 17 th September. Mr. Filipov thanked GIZ for their update and proceeded to request that Mr. Nazriev and Mr. Rakhmatov, as Chairs of two of the above Working Groups, ensure that the Project keeps up the momentum. Service Level Agreement Mr. Filipov noted that the draft Service Level Agreement template deliverable was ready, but there was a political challenge to make this obligatory. A resolution of Government was suggested to enforce this and then each agency proceeds to conclude the formal agreement with the Single Window. Mr. Filipov suggested that without the resolution, agreement would take too long. Ms Khusvakhtova asked if the approval of the SLA would be after the system testing. Mr. Carayannis asked what Ms. Khusvakhtova had in mind as we would certainly need the SLA in place before the pilot phase. Mr. Rakhmatov noted that there would be learnings and results from the pilot that would be useful for the SLA. Mr. Filipov suggested that the SLA should be in place before testing, but could be changed by mutual agreement after the results of the tests were available. Mr. Rakhmatov noted that the draft SLA should be made available to all agencies and reviewed by them and Mr Filipov agreed that this distribution could be made. General Comments Mr. Rakhmatov noted that the interfaces with BRIS and UAIS were noted as risks, but that these systems had been running successfully and that was very positive. Any proposed integration should be done without any damaging effect on these systems. If the Project had studied the work to be done sufficiently then these would not be classed as high risks. Mr. Carayannis noted that there was no need for a change to the BRIS. For UAIS, the Project merely needed a description of the interfaces that the UAIS provides to communicate with other systems. He continued that the Project had not been given a description or documentation to answer this. If it exists then the Project has no problem interfacing. If it does not exist then Intrasoft will create an interface for the UAIS to communicate with. Mr. Carayannis noted that in a meeting the previous day with all the Customs technical people involved with the UAIS and the developer s representatives the Project had receive no clear answer to our question as to whether there was an interface or not. The Project merely needs to see the document that describes the interface of the UAIS.

4 Mr. Nazriev noted that the compelling rationale back in 2010 for the Customs Service running the Single Window was the great benefit of the integration with the UAIS. That is why the State Unitary Enterprise Single Window Centre was established under the Customs Service. He noted that the Project team and the Customs Service should achieve this successful integration. Mr. Filipov noted that this UAIS interface was a serious project risk and that ADB had assured the EU that it had included the openness for integration within the technical specifications of the UAIS. He noted that the Project team only wants information on the interface and will not harm the Customs system. In addition, the Project wants to have a closer relationship with the UAIS developer. Mr. Rakhmatov responded that he will do his best to help the Project. However, the UAIS project was in the Warranty stage now, but he will make sure the information required is made available. He proceeded to comment on the Inception Report. He questioned the lack of analysis of document computerisation at the SW agencies and that this computerisation was necessary for the Single Window. He also commented that the report covered what had not been done to date, such as a complete legal review, but it does not state what Intrasoft are going to do. Mr. Filipov asked Mr. Donnelly to comment on this. Mr. Donnelly had no comment on the first point since it was outside the scope of the current project, but did refer Mr. Rakhmatov to the detailed project plan that was presented in hard copy with the Inception Report which sets out clearly what Intrasoft are planning to do. Mr. Filipov acknowledged that the legal framework analysis was behind schedule, but that the implementation had started now and that the work to be done should continue in parallel. He stated that the report reflects the reality at the end of the Inception Period, but commented that the Steering Committee meeting is good machinery to agree to speed up work on the interface issues, but this needed the active support of the participants. Mr. Carayannis noted that if there is no full computerisation at the SW agencies (this is outside of the Project scope) then the Intrasoft system provides an interface to them. When they do undergo computerisation, there will also be an interface to which their new system can communicate through directly to the Single Window Information System. Mr. Filipov mentioned that from 24 th September he would have a monitoring expert in Dushanbe and that they would sit at the office of the State Unitary Enterprise Single Window Centre. This expert would not be full time but would be monitoring all technical documentation and reports, together with the progress of the system development. Closing Mr. Nazriev thanked all participants and noted that the composition of the Steering Committee was very good and positive. He further noted that the Steering Committee was an important forum for ensuring the Project would be well aligned with the WTO accession focus of the Government. Mr. Filipov suggested that the next meeting be 4 th December The meeting then closed.

5 Agenda Annex 1 1 st Steering Committee meeting 12 th September, , Delegation of the European Union, Dushanbe 1. Welcome speech of the EU Project Manager 2. Approval of the agenda of the meeting 3. Approval of the Steering Committee Terms of Reference 4. Presentation of the Inception Report John Donnelly, Team Leader 5. Summary plans for next reporting period Antypas Chatziiosifidis, Project Manager Intrasoft International 6. Questions and answers on the Inception report and the plans for the next reporting period. 7. Any other business

6 Annex 2 1 st Steering Committee Meeting List of participants 1. Mr. Nazriev S. Deputy Minister, Chairman of the Steering Committee. 2. Mr. Filipov B. Programme Manager of the Delegation of the EU to Tajikistan 3. Mr. Rakhmatov N. First Deputy Chairman of the Customs Service 4. Mr. Rasulov K. Programme Team Leader in Tajikistan Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH 5. Mrs. Uljabaeva M. Chairperson of National Association of Small & Medium Business of Tajikistan 6. Dr. Carayannis G. Director, INTRASOFT International 7. Mr. Chatziiosifidis A. Project Manager, INTRASOFT International 8. Mr. Donnelly J. Team Leader, EU Single Window Project 9. Dr. Petrov V. Senior ICT Expert, EU Single Window Project 10. Mr. Sattorov M. Legal Expert, EU Single Window Project 11. Ms. Kushvakhtova N. Programme ABT Coordinator in Tajikistan Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH 12. Mr. Roziev S. Director, State Unitary Enterprise Single Window Centre 13. Mr. Gurezov A. Head of Department, State Unitary Enterprise Single Window Centre 14. Mr. Turabekov A. Head of Department, State Unitary Enterprise Single Window Centre