In a message on his X account Arce noted that ‘we are working tirelessly to strengthen our foreign trade’.

With the start of operations of the Foreign Trade Single Window (VUCE), which concentrates the work of 25 state institutions, Bolivia will reduce the relevant procedures from three months to five days, according to the president of the National Customs, Karina Serrudo.

“Such services will start on September 28; we were given 30 days to stablish regulations”, she said in statements to Fama Poder y Ganas (Fame, Power and Wish) radio program.

VUCE´s implementation followed agreement between Arce and the country’s business community, in the context of the National Dialogue for the Economy and Production, held in August.

These steps predated VUCE’s inception in 2023, now leaving Honduras as the only Latin American country lacking this kind of trade platform.

In Serrudo’s words, the National Customs invested 25 million Bolivianos (more than three million dollars) to establish the VUCE, an amount much below the nearly 140 million Bolivianos (about 20 million dollars) that a foreign company charges to open their representative offices.

She added this is a digital platform concentrating all the institutions that grant authorization and certify imports and exports, thus its great significance, as it will allow to minimize these procedures.

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