The government has formed a 22-member national task force to simplify the business and investment environment.
The task force will identify and eliminate bureaucratic delays and complexities across government offices, oversee initiatives to amend relevant laws, rules, and policies, and review the progress of implementing the reform roadmap for easing business operations.
Chaired by Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, the task force includes top officials from various government ministries and agencies, alongside representatives from the business and industrial sectors.
On Sunday (August 9), the Cabinet Division issued a gazette notification forming the "National Task Force on Deregulation and Easing Doing Business."
According to the notification, the task force comes into effect immediately.
The members of the task force include the Minister of Environment, Minister of Industries, and Minister of Law; relevant advisors to the Ministry of Finance and Planning; the Governor of Bangladesh Bank; the Finance Secretary; the Shipping Secretary; the Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR); the Chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC); and the Registrar of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC).
To ensure representation from the business and industrial sectors, the presidents of FBCCI, FICCI, DCCI, MCCI, BGMEA, and BKMEA have also been named members of the task force.
The task force will identify the procedural steps and complexities businesses encounter when securing government approvals, licenses, clearances, taxes and duties, banking, capital markets, construction, environmental clearances, and local government services necessary for starting and running an enterprise.
Directives will be issued to eliminate redundant steps and simplify service delivery. Additionally, the committee will approve sector-specific reform roadmaps regarding deregulation and easing business, while regularly reviewing implementation progress.
The task force will provide policy guidance on establishing a "Single Window" system for government services, implementing time-bound service delivery, enabling automated approvals, and setting up online application tracking systems.
Efforts will also be made to resolve complications caused by a lack of coordination among various ministries and government bodies.
The committee will identify the need to amend laws, rules, policies, notifications, and administrative orders that hinder business operations.
Complaints from business owners and service seekers, unnecessary delays in receiving government services, irregularities, and harassment will also fall under the task force’s oversight.
According to the notification, the progress of the task force's activities will be reviewed once every three months. If necessary, the committee may co-opt any relevant individual as a member.
On the same day, the government formed a 27-member "National Steering Committee on Creative Economy" to foster the development of the creative economy.
Also chaired by the Finance and Planning Minister, this committee includes representatives from relevant ministries and agencies, including Culture, Industries, Commerce, Housing, Planning, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Tourism, Women and Children Affairs, Youth and Sports, and Information and Broadcasting.
Alongside government officials, representatives from the private sector and creative industries have been included in the committee. These include representatives from the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), BRAC, HSBC Bangladesh, Bengal Foundation, Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology, and the fashion design and modeling sectors, as well as industry experts.
The Additional Secretary (Macroeconomics Division) of the Finance Division will serve as the member-secretary of the committee.
The primary responsibility of this steering committee will be to approve roadmaps formulated for various creative economy sectors and review implementation progress. It will also facilitate coordination among relevant ministries, public-private entities, and sector-based committees while offering necessary direction.
The steering committee will review progress across creative economy sectors every three months.
