BEE Coordination Working Group Meeting Minutes, 15 October 2008

Present at the meeting:

1. Opening remarks

Christine Bowers welcomed participants to the IFC office and introduced new participants: Kishwar Abdulalishoev (MSDSP), Parviz Kamoliddinov (USAID Regional Trade Liberalization and Customs Project), Riccardo Lepri (OSCE), Utkir Umarov (WB) and Alessandra Lustrati, on an EC mission from Brussels, also joined the meeting.

Shukhrat Rahmatboev opened the meeting by commenting on the Doing Business results, in which Tajikistan slipped 3 places. He noted that before the new rating came out, the government had already developed an Action Plan to improve Tajikistan's performance on the indicators. He thanked the many members of the BEE Coordination Working Group who helped draft the Action Plan. The Action Plan has been approved and signed by the government of Tajikistan. It will shortly be translated to English and circulated to the full BEE Coordination Working Group. Mr. Rahmatboev called on all members of the Working Group to support its implementation.

Mr. Rahmatboev said that a meeting was held with business associations during the week of October 6th. The meeting discussed the ranking of doing business, and then small groups discussed each indicator. The business associations will also be important in fulfillment of the Action Plan to improve Doing Business indicators. Mr. Rahmatboev stressed that we have only 4 months to implement changes, which will require mobilizing all stakeholders.

Finally, Mr. Rahmatboev called on all Working Group members to nominate any of their employees or partners who would be able to act as respondents to the Doing Business survey. More respondents to complete the surveys should result in a more accurate picture of the environment in Tajikistan. Matlyuba Uljabaeva said that the National Association of SMEs is now trained on how to fill out the questionnaire properly.

2. Progress update of Permits Reform and the Quick Review Process (aka "Guillotine")

Mr. Rahmatboev explained GosKomInvest's work on permits to date, including chairmanship of the Permits Working Group. The Permits Working Group, which includes representatives of 17 permitting agencies, has developed and submitted a package of documents to the Investment Council for consideration at the next Investment Council meeting.

Madina Nurmatova delivered a presentation (see Attachment A) explaining the need for permits reform in Tajikistan, the proposed Quick Review mechanism, and the new Permits Law to be developed. Mr. Rahmatboev gave an overview of the next steps for the Quick Review process. At the next Investment Council meeting (likely for November 2008), members will ask President Rahmon to sign a Presidential Decree authorizing government to begin the quick review process. Next a Government Resolution (to be agreed within 3 months) will clarify roles and responsibilities during the Quick Review mechanism, and lay out general principles for the review. A high-level State Commission will be set up to oversee the Quick Review process, with a smaller Secretariat to perform the daily work of reviewing permit documentation and making recommendations to the State Commission. Upon conclusion of the Quick Review, a registry will be established containing all approved permits. At the same time, a new Permits Law will be submitted to Parliament, clarifying the procedure for the introduction of new permits to the system.

Nurali Shukurov and Matlyuba Uljabaeva asked about the involvement of the private sector in the reform process. Ms. Nurmatova explained that they will be involved in reviewing all permits recommended by the independent State Commission for inclusion on the registry. Ms. Bowers added that IFC is planning to sponsor several consultations with the private sector in advance of and during the process. At these events, a list of the most burdensome permits, as viewed by the private sector will be established. Special attention will be paid to these permits during the Quick Review. In other countries this is referred to as the "Red Tape Hit List." Ms. Nurmatova agreed with Mr. Shukurov's and Ms. Uljabaeva's recommendation to include private sector representatives on the State Commission and Secretariat for permits reform.

Daniel Lachat made a comment about self-certification, one of the principles to be included in the new Permits Law as described by Ms. Nurmatova in her presentation. He suggested that self-certification will not work in the absence of a robust insurance system. He pointed to Kazakhstan, where all businesses are required to have an insurance policy.

Ms. Bowers invited all interested individuals to join a meeting on Friday October 17th at the Secretariat of the Investment Council office. The group will be the formation of a thematic group on permits reform. Friday's meeting will go over the draft Presidential Decree in detail.

3. Updates of on-going BEE initiatives: OSS, Credit Bureaus

Frederik Coene updated the group on the EC project to support development of the one-stop shop for business registration (OSS). He said the tender procedures are ongoing, and that he expects a team to be on the ground in January. Also, EC is organizing a study tour to Baku's OSS for the first week of December. The study tour will be led by Boris Divjak (IFC, Azerbaijan) and include 4 staff of the Tax Committee, as well as Pragma and IFC staff from Tajikistan.

Ms. Bowers delivered an update on behalf of Zarina Odinaeva (IFC Leasing project). The draft law on credit bureaus has been agreed with ministries, and Zarina is expecting comments from the IFC experts in DC on credit bureaus. The draft law is expected to go to Parliament in November. It includes provisions for development of a private credit bureau(s) containing both positive and negative information. The supervisor for the public registry will be determined by government, and it is likely to be either the National Bank or Ministry of Finance. One open point in the law is whether only financial institutions will be entitled to credit information sharing (as currently in draft law) or whether all other creditors will have access, such as leasing companies, utilities and mobile phone operators.

There will be a half-day conference on Credit Bureaus on November 10, 2008, targeting commercial banks, government officials, parliament members, microfinance organizations and banking associations. Members of the BEE Coordination Working Group should contact Zarina at zodinaeva@ifc.org if interested in attending.

4. Closing remarks

Ms. Bowers asked all present to fill out an evaluation form, part of the six-month review of the BEE Coordination Working Group (see Attachment B).

The next meeting on November 14 will discuss construction licensing and include an update on the one-stop shop for business registration (discussed at last meeting).

List of attachments:

1. Presentation on Permits Reform in Tajikistan - English
2. Participant Survey of BEE Coordination Working Group - English (Russian also available)

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