Govt firm to implement RRC recommendations

Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday reaffirmed the government's commitment to implement as many as possible the recommendations made by the Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) to ensure a better business environment in the country.
"The chief adviser has also repeatedly affirmed his commitment in this regard," he told a discussion on "Business Regulation Reform: Lessons from Two Top Reformers" at a city a hotel in the morning.
Recognising his own scepticism about the implementation, the adviser made the assurance amid widespread apprehension by the participants in the discussion.
RRC Chairman Akbar Ali Khan also expressed doubt about how many of the recommendations will be implemented even though the chief adviser verbally assured him of implementing as many as possible.
Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) organised the discussion with its president Farooq Sobhan in the chair. Businessmen, legal experts and members of the RRC and civil society were present.
Managing Partner of SENSE Consulting of Croatia Vendran Antoljak and Chairman of the Working Committee on Regulatory Reforms in Kenya Ben Musau shared the experiences of regulatory reforms in Croatia and Kenya.
The finance adviser explained his scepticism about implementation of the recommendations as a simple reason since many recommendations in the past were not implemented.
However, he reaffirmed the government's commitment to implement the recommendations by the newly formed RRC.
The adviser stressed the need for communicating the reform proposals with the stakeholders--government, businesses, media and civil society--to achieve the desired objectives of the RRC.
He said private sector usually has to incur the compliance cost of any reforms and they should not take advantage of any loopholes in absence of a strong monitoring system.
He also underlined the importance of continuation of reforms in line with the global changes. "Reforms cannot be one-shot exercise," he added.
The adviser said there is a mindset problem, not only in the RRC but also in the private sector. "We'll have to address it, but I don't know how to address it," he added.
Akbar Ali Khan said the RRC will start with the new regulations and then look into the old ones in the reform process. "We'll take some diagnostic studies."
He told the news agency that the RRC members would meet the chief adviser at 11:00am today to submit their first reform proposal.