Four seaports and one airport in Indonesia, namely the seaports of Tanjung Priok, Tanjung Emas , Tanjung Perak , Belawan and Soekarno-Hatta airport, are using an electronic-based National Single Window (NSW) system to serve import activities, according to port officials.

Chairwoman of the National Preparatory Team in charge of developing an electronic-based national single window (NSW) system, Sri Mulnyani Indrawati, said the use of the system was expected to smooth the flow of exports and imports as well as trade services.

"The inauguration marks the application of the NSW mandatory import system for all importers' goods coming in the country through the seaports of Tanjung Periok, Tanjung Perak, Tanjung Emas, Belawan and Soekarno-Hatta airport," she said.

She said that the team she chaired was set up in 2006 and was in charge of developing an NSW system in Indonesia as part of the ASEAN single window, which is an electronic-based system for customs documents processing.

"The team has been successful in developing a blue print, a trial at the end of December 2006. It was developed with two pillars, namely trade system and port system, not only for ASEAN but also for all countries," she said.

Sri Mulyani explained that since 2006 and up to 2009, the team had conducted a series of trial-tests and limited implementation of the system, which was inaugurated by the president late last week.