The government is soon establishing Nepal Business Forum (NBF) -- a public-private body -- to stimulate dialogue and enable the public and private sector to work constructively for improving investment and business climate in the country.
The forum is being set up after the cabinet meeting held recently endorsed the proposal that Ministry of Industry mooted under the aegis of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank group.
NBF is the replica of a model practiced in recent years in various low income countries, where it successfully bridged policy and environment related gaps that impeded business growth.
“We reckon NBF can play an instrumental role to identify constraints and barriers to business and investment, foster commitment and mobilize concerned government agencies to solve the problems promptly,” said Dhundi Raj Pokharel, joint secretary at MoI.
Most importantly, officials believe that NBF being an interactive platform between the private sector, government, civil society and donors will create strong pressure for concerned stakeholders, mainly political leadership, for addressing labor problems, energy crisis and insecurity and bring about other reforms.
Labor problems, energy crisis and insecurity are being tagged as the three major constraints to investment and doing business in Nepal at present. And despite suggesting various measures to deal with them, MoI has not been able to garner strong will and commitment from concerned ministries and political leaders.
The NBF statute endorsed by the government envisages formation of multi-tier bodies, including general assembly, headed by the Prime Minister; steering committee led by Industry Minister; and private sector development committee headed by the Chief Secretary.
While the steering committee will function as the main executive body of NBF, six different sectoral working groups jointly led by concerned government secretary and private sector representatives will work to identify problems, recommend policy reforms and implement reforms related to respective sectors.
The working groups will be formed on industry, trade and services, infrastructure, access to finance, women in business and business registration and tax.
“NBF will have a separate secretariat, which will be manned by experts and supporting staffs,” Pokharel told myrepublica.com, adding, “While work groups will meet more frequently, NBF plenary meeting will be held once a year.”
NBF will include all concerned ministers, secretaries, private sector organizations, donor agencies, civil society representatives and experts. Though its structure and size appears mammoth, concerned officials argued that the inclusion of all stakeholders and ministries, stimulating dialogue among them and making them responsive and accountable are the key to the success of NBF.
“Otherwise, we fear, it will fail just as many other public-private initiatives have failed.”
As for its function, NBF will work for consistent enforcement of law, removal of barriers that investors face in establishing and closing enterprises and provide feedback on policies and regulations that affect the private sector.
It will also field various needs of the industrial sector like taxes and fees cut, relaxing interest rates and ceiling, simplifying rules, improving patent and industrial design protection and predictable environment for foreign direct investment.
The costs of operating NBF will be shouldered jointly by the government, private sector and donors, according to MoI.
No comments:
Post a Comment