Bida moves to enhance ease of doing business

Bida yesterday signed MoUs to add 11 more dedicated services for investors on its website by June, all part of ongoing reforms for Bangladesh to rise to a double-digit spot from the current three-digit one in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index within two years. 

Launched on February 24 last year to lure in investors, the One Stop Service (OSS) previously provided 18 information-related services.

The providers were Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida), the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms, National Board of Revenue and Sonali Bank.

The 11 new services are of the home affairs ministry’s security services division, Office of the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports, Chittagong Development Authority, Dhaka Electric Supply Company, and Bangladesh Power Development Board.

As for the ranking, Bangladesh had first advanced one place to take up the 176th position in the 2019 assessment before making a jump to become 168th among 190 countries in the 2020 index.

Elaborating on the reforms for the future leap, Bida Executive Chairman Md Sirazul Islam said while some of the reform initiatives have already been implemented, others such as those involving legal issues were taking some time as their procedures were lengthy.

The signing ceremony on the five memorandums of understanding (MoU) with the government agencies was organised at Hotel Amari Dhaka in city’s Gulshan.

Titled “Online OSS: Easier, Faster and Transparent Investment Entry in Bangladesh”, the programme was held in partnership with International Finance Corporation.

The previous 18 services came about on the basis of six MoUs signed in November 2018.

“Bida is dedicated to providing an effective and efficient One Stop Service as part of its overall effort to simplify the processes investors must follow to do business in Bangladesh,” said Islam.

“We are working closely with our partners to achieve the target of delivering 154 services of 35 agencies through the One Stop Service.”