From April 4-6 2022, the Border Management Programme in Central Asia organised a technical assistance mission to Bishkek, in the form of a national workshop for the representatives of the Central Directorate of the Customs Service, under the Ministry of Finance of the Kyrgyz Republic. The workshop was devoted to the improvement of customs processes and e-services, related to the electronic submission and processing of customs documents, as well as the development of Single Window. 

This workshop supports the customs administration in automating customs processes and e-services provided for trade and developing the Single Window system. The current situation and evaluation of the existing system and approaches to customs processes automation were discussed. A particular emphasis was put on the use of electronic customs declarations, the available IT systems, the degree of their integration with other systems and into the Single Window system, as well as the degree of e-services use in Kyrgyzstan. 

As a result of the workshop, the expert team from the Customs Administration of the State Revenue Service of the Republic of Latvia identified and recommended measures to optimise customs processes through further digitalisation and automation.   These results contribute to the implementation of national priorities established by the  Action Plan of the “Concept for the Development of the Customs Service of the Kyrgyz Republic for 2022-2024”, part III – Automation of customs processes, paragraph 3.10 – namely the creation of a digital customs office, in order to ensure operational management of customs processes and transparency of the customs service.