MCCI for 3-5 year trade licenses for greater ease of doing business

Md Saiful Islam, president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka (MCCI) on Sunday asked for providing trade and environment-related licences valid for 3-5 years to increase ease of doing business in the country.

"Currently we only have one-year licences available. This hampers the ease of doing business," he said at a dissemination seminar on the One Stop Service (OSS) of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida), at MCCI's Gulshan office on Wednesday.

The MCCI president also proposed outsourcing the services of regulatory body inspectors to ensure the overall quality and speed of inspections, said a press release. 

At the seminar hosted by the MCCI, Bida executive chairman Sirazul Islam led the discussion from the Bida side to familiarise the business community with the functions of the OSS. 

He emphasised going digital and its significance in making the business and investment process easier and faster in Bangladesh.

Saying that most of the services delivered from the OSS were Bida's, he encouraged the private sector to seek all the services and use the full convenience offered by the OSS. 

Jibon Krishna Saha Roy, director of Bida, gave a presentation and highlighted how businesses could take advantage of the OSS platform. 

The OSS allows for services to be availed remotely, including making payments. Currently, the OSS offers 58 services of 19 organisations/ agencies.

The other members of the team were: Senior Vice-President Kamran T Rahman, members of the Board of Directors, Syed Tareque Md Ali, Uzma Chowdhury, Rubaiyat Jamil, Golam Mainuddin, and Secretary-General and CEO, Farooq Ahmed. 

In an open discussion, trade body leaders raised questions about sector-specific registrations, the declaration of local and foreign sales levels, unit-wise registrations of companies, the facilitation of trade and environment related licenses, and so forth.

BIDA officials confirmed that local and foreign sales levels could be amended later as a company required. They also confirmed working on the unit-wise registration.

Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida) introduced the OSS in 2018 in order to provide essential services in order to facilitate investment.

The OSS focuses on several regulatory, compliance, and value-added services at a single window. 

Both sides said that such exchanges of views could help Bida in making familiar the services offered to the private sector.