& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Regulatory reform hinges on political commitment

Roundtable told

STAR BUSINESS REPORT
Political commitment is one of the key factors for regulatory reform, which is needed to improve competitiveness of local industries and remove red tape from the administration, speakers at a roundtable observed yesterday.
They made the observations at the concluding session of a two-day 'South Asia High Level Roundtable on Regulatory Reform' in Dhaka with Mahmudur Rahman, executive chairman of the Board of Investment (BoI), in the chair.
The Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS) and the SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) organised the roundtable in collaboration with the UK's Department for International Development (DFID).
Speaking at the roundtable, former cabinet secretary Mujibul Huq said regulatory reform needs strong political commitment and it is impossible to implement it without good governance.
James Crittle, South Asia regional programme coordinator of FIAS, stressed the need for reducing cost of doing business.
He said when registering a firm takes only a few days in one country, it is not logical that it will take six months in another country. It proves that there are vested interests involved in the process and regulatory reform is necessary to remove those bottlenecks.
Mahmudur Rahman said industry in Bangladesh is growing at a pace more than that of the agriculture and reducing the business cost is very important in this
regard.
The size of the economy of the regional countries varies from less than one billion dollar to over US$600 billion, he said raising the question whether a common formula for regulatory reform can be effective for all the countries in the region.
Referring to complexities in pursuing donor driven programmes, he said it is difficult to implement different reform programmes if there is no ownership.
Citing example of poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP), he said it has been drafted by Bangladeshi people and goes with the local government institution well.
Anil Sinha, general manager of IFC-SEDF, felt it is necessary for
the stakeholders to have a common and clear vision to implement any reform. "Homegrown policy and holistic approach are essential for a regulatory reform."
He said the donor agencies are ready to extend support for implementing the reform programmes.
Following the success of the first two South Asia foreign direct investment (FDI) roundtables held in Bangladesh and the Maldives, this third one specially focused on implementing regulatory reform to promote a competitive investment environment.
High-level public sector representatives and private sector participants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka took part in the two-day roundtable.