DUSHANBE, May 12, 2009, Asia-Plus — The World Bank’s Private Sector Development team and the State Committee for Investment and Tajikistan’s State Property Management (GosKomInvest) conducted a meeting in Dushanbe last week to discuss the main findings and recommendations of a report by the international consulting firm Jacobs & Associates “Assessment of the Implementation of Inspections and Licensing Reforms in Tajikistan”.
The report, a so-called compliance review, monitored the progress in implementing the Law on Licensing (2004) and the Law on Inspections (2006) in four state bodies – the Pharmaceutical Licensing Agency, the Construction Licensing Agency, the Fire Inspectorate, and the Sanitary and Epidemiological Inspectorate (SES). It found that implementation of licensing reforms has made significant progress since the adoption of the new law, while reforms in the field of inspections were still at an early stage of implementation. However, overtime comparisons showed that the reviewed inspectorates were improving their compliance with the 2006 Law in the course of 2008.
According to the World Bank Dushanbe Office, the meeting’s objectives were to discuss the report’s methodology, main findings and recommendations and to gather feedback on the assessment from key stakeholders. In addition to GosKomInvest and World Bank staff, the meeting was attended by representatives from the relevant ministries and state agencies as wells as from the USAID BEI Project and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which have been supporting the Tajikistan Government in implementing reforms in the fields of licensing and inspections, respectively.
The meeting covered areas such as the impact of licensing and inspections reforms on the work of State Agencies and businesses in Tajikistan, recommendations for the improvement of ongoing reforms, and suggestions for the adequate monitoring of these reforms, including the future implementation of compliance reviews. Sudharshan Canagarjah, World Bank Country Economist for Tajikistan, mentioned: “The GosKomInvest should be responsible for implementing future compliance reviews. The comments received on the current assessment and the lessons learnt during its implementation will be very helpful in drafting the terms-of-reference for similar reviews in the future.”
The report is part of the World Bank’s assistance to the Tajikistan Government to improve the environment for the development of Tajikistan’s private sector under the Third Programmatic Development Policy Grant (PDPG-3). PDPG-3 is the third budget support operation assisting the Government of Tajikistan in implementing its reform program in the fields of private sector development, public sector reform, and the delivery of key public services.
