He said these at the first meeting of the ‘National Task Force on Deregulation and Business Facilitation’ held on Saturday (October 17) afternoon in the conference room of the Finance Division at the Secretariat. Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury chaired the meeting.
The commerce minister said trade licenses are currently issued through separate systems by union parishads, municipalities and city corporations. An initiative has been taken to bring this process under an integrated online portal. Once it is launched, businesspeople will be able to obtain trade licenses from home by submitting necessary documents, applying and paying fees. Increasing the license term and renaming it to ‘Business Registration Certificate’ or something similar are also under consideration.
Regarding renewal of work permits and security clearances for foreign employees, he said unreasonable complications are not acceptable for foreign employees working under lawful and registered institutions. He called for making the process easy, transparent and effective through coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs.
At the meeting, a plan was presented to launch a joint inspection system led by ‘Invest Bangladesh’ to reduce inconvenience in inspecting business establishments. Under the proposed system, inspections by multiple agencies, including building safety, fire safety and environmental matters, will be completed on the same day. It is expected that this will reduce the need for repeated inspections and save businesspeople time and costs.
The meeting was informed that five priority sectors have initially been identified to reduce delays in approvals, permits and licenses related to business and investment and duplication in the activities of different agencies. There are plans to gradually expand the initiative to other sectors as well.
Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintu, Law Minister Asaduzzaman, Invest Bangladesh Chairman Ashik Chowdhury, senior officials of various ministries and agencies, and business representatives were present at the meeting.
