Circle participates in the World Bank project for the creation of the PCS of Pakistan

Contributes almost € 40,000

Genoa - Circle S.p.A. ("Circle") organized and managed by Borsa Italiana, communicates its participation in the Pakistan Trade Facilita- tion Project, assigned by the World Bank, with a contribution of almost € 40,000.

As a signatory to the WTO trade facilitation agreement, Pakistan has created a Na- tional Single Window (NSW) in 2017 in accordance with the UNECE/UNESCAP guide- lines. The objective of the project is to facilitate imports, exports and transit of trades, as well as improving policies and coordination between border agencies. The NSW represents a significant qualitative leap over current management based on 44 differ- ent government departments which regulate Pakistani trade. According to the World Bank report, the Pakistani production system claims over $ 400 million additional an- nual costs compared to the regional average, due to inefficiencies.

The Government of Pakistan, with the support of the World Bank, order the analysis of implementing a Port Community System (PCS) aimed at providing a digital platform to allow a more rapid, secure and efficient exchange of information between the vari- ous involved subjects. The Pakistan Customs, "Lead Agency" of the project, has un- dertaken this analysis of the legal, procedural and regulatory framework of all the public and private stakeholders involved in the logistics system, and an evaluation of the response capacity in terms of human resources, automation and ICT infrastruc- tures. The survey showed a substantial lack of integration between private stakehold- ers and the main maritime-port operators of Pakistani ports.

The role of Circle, as sub-contractor of the Belgian company PortExpertise, is to per- form a comparative analysis of the Port Community Systems (PCS) and of the existing digital port platforms in India and South Korea, analyzing functionalities, features, port services and benefits for territories and stakeholders, draft high-level budget in order to identify the fundamental values that will be used as benchmarks for the World Bank project. The creation of the Pakistan Port Community System (PPCS) will cover the entire logistics industry, concentrating primarily on ports, terminals and inland gate- ways, to subsequently integrate airports and border crossings. Part of the project con- sists in performing a comparative analysis between the different solutions of the exist- ing PCS and the portals of the various ports.