The NEWS (Monrovia)
Doe S.k. Davies
29 April 2008
Monrovia — The Government of Liberia has initiated 21 business reforms in three critical areas including Business Start Up, Construction Permits and Trading Across Borders.
The Chairman of the National Investment Commission (NIC) Dr. Richard V. Tolbert making the disclosure Monday said the World Bank 2008 Doing Business Survey ranking Liberia 170 overall among 178 nations has wooed the Liberian Government to instituting the necessary reforms in the ease of doing business in Liberia.
Dr. Tolbert who chairs the Liberian Government Business Reform Committee mandated by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf some six months ago to respond decisively and quickly to identify challenges faced by the private sector in doing business in Liberia, noted that the 21 reforms would accelerate growth in small, medium and large scale enterprises thereby creating jobs and helping to reduce poverty.
Dr. Tolbert spoke at the office of Vice President Joseph N. Boakai Monday where the formal launch and signing ceremony for the campaign to sensitize the public about the 21 business reforms and ensuring that first, Liberian businesses and second, international investment know that Liberia is reforming its investment climate.
He told the gathering that in the three prioritized areas, government has streamlined procedures, cost and time of Starting a Busines, acquiring Construction Permits and Trading Across Borders.
"With Starting a Business, we have cut the number of days to process incorporating a company to 10 days. We are ensuring that everyone who wants to register a small business under sole proprietorship, anyone who wants to enter into a formal partnership, knows the exact procedures and cost involved. The biggest challenge for small and medium sized companies trying to do business is lack of information on how to, where to and how much it cost; we have addressed these," he indicated.
Regarding the acquisition of Construction Permits, Dr. Tolbert said they have streamlined procedures, reduced the bureaucracy and ensured that in 30 working days, with all of the documentations submitted, an entrepreneur will receive formal assent to begin building.
"We have cut fees, reduced signatures required and improved security at the Freeport of Monrovia to ensure that importing and exporting goods into and out of Liberia is efficient. The costs, procedures and times it takes an average business to import or export goods into Liberia has a direct impact on the cost of living, the cost of goods and it sends a strong signal to our neighbors in the sub-region and the world that Liberia is a competitive place to do business," Tolbert added.
Dr. Tolbert: "We are making it better, easier and faster to do business in Liberia, and there is more to come. We intend to work closely with the Liberia Better Business Forum, a public private dialogue mechanism that brings key government and private sector associations and individuals together to focus on finding good practice solutions to prioritized challenges in our business environment".
The NIC boss further noted that his committee's focus will continue to be to respond to the needs of the domestic private sector because, according to him, a strong private sector creates quality employment and provides critical services, adding "a strong domestic private sector is a key tool for investment promotion in attracting, partnering and providing services for responsible international investors."
He informed Vice President Boakai that by granting the audience to the business Reform Committee and accepting the signed scroll signifying their collective commitment to implement the 21 business reforms, he has officially launched a campaign to ensure that all Liberia and the world knows and assured that the government is making it better, easier and faster to do business in Liberia.
Responding, Vice President Boakai lauded the committee and its partners for the launch, and hoped that the reforms would attract more domestic and foreign investments to Liberia.
The Vice President promised to give the report to President Johnson-Sirleaf upon her return home and urged the committee to do whatever in its purview to ensure that Liberia remains competitive in business.
The Business Reform Committee is drawn from senior level officials representing the Ministries of Commerce, Finance, Public Works, Lands, Mines and Energy, the Secretariat of the Liberia Reconstruction and Development Committee and the National Investment Commission.
The committee was mandated by President Johnson-Sirleaf to identify administrative reforms which can be made to improve Liberia's investment climate over a short term, to initiate action to implement these reforms where possible, and report to cabinet on any obstacles to fully implementing the reforms.
It was also charged with the responsibility of identifying all legislative reforms that can appropriately be made current to improve the investment climate and make recommendations to cabinet on the content of such amendments so that preparations can be made to present the proposed amending legislation to the Legislature for consideration and adoption.
Monday's program at the Vice President's office was attended by a cross-section of members of the Liberia Better Business Forum, as well as the heads of key ministries and agencies.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The NEWS. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
