Adviser lauds regulatory reforms facilitating SMEs

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to PM on Commerce and Investment Razak Dawood on Thursday appreciated the regulatory reforms introduced for facilitation of SMEs under Board of Investment (BOI) led regulatory reforms and guillotine initiative.

He was chairing the sixth steering committee meeting on Pakistan Regulatory Modernization Initiative (PRMI).

He expressed satisfaction on performance of stakeholders and encouraged them to continue the momentum towards ensuring a business friendly environment in the country. He said it was heartening to see acknowledgement of government endeavours by the private sector as it was testament of the on ground positive impact.

Secretary BOI, Fareena Mazhar acknowledged the active involvement of the private sector in supporting BOI in successful execution of the ongoing initiative. The Secretary expressed gratitude to the prime minister and his team for supporting the timely and successful implementation of the regulatory reform activity.

She reaffirmed federal and provincial governments’ commitment to improve the business climate of the country through continued regulatory reforms.

The meeting reviewed implementation of decisions made in 5th SC meeting, briefing by BOI on regulatory guillotine activities and provincial groups on their respective agendas related to PRMI. Former Advisor to PM Dr Ishrat Hussain, who is currently included as private member in PRMI steering committee, secretary BOI, additional secretary commerce, joint secretary industries and production, representatives of private sector (business and trade councils and bodies), as well as World Bank Group and FCDO attended the meeting in person and virtually.

Additional Secretary BOI, Mukarram Jah Ansari gave a broad overview of the working and progress of regulatory guillotine mechanism which aims to identify, simplify, modernise or eliminate the regulatory bottlenecks for facilitation of businesses particularly SMEs.

The entire exercise has been carried out in close collaboration with business associations of varied sectors to ensure accurate identifications of cumbersome regulations that are hampering business growth.

To date, three rounds of regulatory reform and guillotine have been launched by BOI. A total number of 168 reform proposals have been taken up with federal and provincial departments, of which over 100 reforms have been implemented and others are under various stages of implementation.

A dedicated interactive portal showcasing the implemented reforms along with supporting evidence was also viewed by the forum.

Ansari also appreciated the support of the World Bank, FCDO and Office of Product Safety and Standards in the capacity building and hand holding of the government departments regarding smart regulations. Provincial representatives of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab briefed on progress on initiation of provincial One Stop Shop (OSS) and Zero Time To Start-Up (ZTTS) policies, respectively. The meeting concluded with commitment of stakeholders to fast-track the process of reform implementation to promote industry and export led growth in the country.