Govt committed to implement RRC recommendations : Aziz
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
FE Report
Finance and Planning Adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam spelt out Monday the government's commitment to implementing the recommendations of the newly established Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) to promote investment and ensure better business environment in the country.
Pointing to the Chief Adviser's interest in this particular issue, the finance adviser said: "I assure you once again to implement the RRC's recommendations to establish a business-friendly climate throughout the country."
The adviser gave this assurance while speaking as the chief guest at a discussion titled "Business Regulation Reform: Lessons from Two Top Reformers," in a city hotel.
Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) organised the discussion with its president Farooq Sobhan in the chair.
Managing partner of SENSE Consulting of Croatia Vendran Antoljak and chairman of the working committee on Regulatory Reforms in Kenya Ben Musau presented two separate keynote papers during the discussion highlighting their experiences of regulatory reforms taken up recently in Croatia and Kenya.
The finance adviser urged the RRC to ensure holding of dialogues with all stakeholders including private sector, government, media and the civil society while preparing recommendations.
The RRC recommendations should be compatible with the changing global and technological advancements, Islam stressed.
Mentioning the private sector's role in establishing competitive business environment the finance adviser said they should shoulder the compliance cost of any reforms and refrain from taking advantages of loopholes in the absence of strong monitoring system.
The RRC chairman Akbar Ali Khan was, however, skeptical over the implementation of the recommendations despite having been assured by the government high-ups as the recommendations made previously by such commissions like Public Administration Reforms Commission (PARC) were not implemented.
He identified the 'mindset' problem of the government as possibly one of the major obstacles towards implementation of the RRC recommendations.
The RRC chairman termed Bangladesh as an 'ill-regulated' country and said that the major challenge here is poor implementation of regulations.
Focusing on the RRC's future task he said the RRC is trying to set a pragmatic structure in regulatory reforms by next year.
The RRC will launch a website incorporating its recommendations by next nine months, he said.
The commission is set to submit its first reform proposal to the Chief Adviser today (Tuesday), he indicated.
Presenting his keynote paper Vendran Antoljak said a special unit named Hitrorez was established in Croatia in 2006 and placed under the Prime Minister's Office to move forward the regulatory reforms programme.
Hitrorez recommended elimination of 425 regulations and simplification of 374 regulations.
Since September 2007 a total of 123 recommendations have been implemented, Antoljak said.
In his presentation, chairman Ben Musau said Kenya launched the regulatory reform programme in February 2005 and styled the strategy - regulatory guillotine.
The Kenyan working committee recommended elimination of 424 licenses, simplification for 607 and retaining 294.
To date the Kenyan government endorsed 80 per cent of the recommendations, said Ben Musau.
Both Croatia and Kenya were among the top 10 reformers according to the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) 2008 Doing Business Report.
Finance and Planning Adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam spelt out Monday the government's commitment to implementing the recommendations of the newly established Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) to promote investment and ensure better business environment in the country.
Pointing to the Chief Adviser's interest in this particular issue, the finance adviser said: "I assure you once again to implement the RRC's recommendations to establish a business-friendly climate throughout the country."
The adviser gave this assurance while speaking as the chief guest at a discussion titled "Business Regulation Reform: Lessons from Two Top Reformers," in a city hotel.
Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) organised the discussion with its president Farooq Sobhan in the chair.
Managing partner of SENSE Consulting of Croatia Vendran Antoljak and chairman of the working committee on Regulatory Reforms in Kenya Ben Musau presented two separate keynote papers during the discussion highlighting their experiences of regulatory reforms taken up recently in Croatia and Kenya.
The finance adviser urged the RRC to ensure holding of dialogues with all stakeholders including private sector, government, media and the civil society while preparing recommendations.
The RRC recommendations should be compatible with the changing global and technological advancements, Islam stressed.
Mentioning the private sector's role in establishing competitive business environment the finance adviser said they should shoulder the compliance cost of any reforms and refrain from taking advantages of loopholes in the absence of strong monitoring system.
The RRC chairman Akbar Ali Khan was, however, skeptical over the implementation of the recommendations despite having been assured by the government high-ups as the recommendations made previously by such commissions like Public Administration Reforms Commission (PARC) were not implemented.
He identified the 'mindset' problem of the government as possibly one of the major obstacles towards implementation of the RRC recommendations.
The RRC chairman termed Bangladesh as an 'ill-regulated' country and said that the major challenge here is poor implementation of regulations.
Focusing on the RRC's future task he said the RRC is trying to set a pragmatic structure in regulatory reforms by next year.
The RRC will launch a website incorporating its recommendations by next nine months, he said.
The commission is set to submit its first reform proposal to the Chief Adviser today (Tuesday), he indicated.
Presenting his keynote paper Vendran Antoljak said a special unit named Hitrorez was established in Croatia in 2006 and placed under the Prime Minister's Office to move forward the regulatory reforms programme.
Hitrorez recommended elimination of 425 regulations and simplification of 374 regulations.
Since September 2007 a total of 123 recommendations have been implemented, Antoljak said.
In his presentation, chairman Ben Musau said Kenya launched the regulatory reform programme in February 2005 and styled the strategy - regulatory guillotine.
The Kenyan working committee recommended elimination of 424 licenses, simplification for 607 and retaining 294.
To date the Kenyan government endorsed 80 per cent of the recommendations, said Ben Musau.
Both Croatia and Kenya were among the top 10 reformers according to the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) 2008 Doing Business Report.