DUSHANBE, April 30, Asia-Plus — The Consultative Council for Improvement of Business Environment and Investment Climate at Khatlon Governor will hold the second meeting to seek solution to problems facing local private sector on completion of work of working groups, Zafar Alizoda, head of the Consultative Council’s Secretariat, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
“After the first meeting that took place on February 18, three working groups comprising seven persons (two from local authorities, two from private sector, two from international organizations and one representative of local community) each were set up,” said Alizoda, “One of the groups is engaged in resolving problems related to attracting investments for enterprises dealing with procuring and processing farm produce, the second group is engaged in resolving issues of simplification of tax procedures, especially for dekhkan (peasant) farms, and the third one is engaged in providing farming units with water and ensuring timely payment for use of water.”
The working groups are expected to submit preliminary reports for consideration to the Consultative Council before the end of May.
According to Alizoda, farmers are not yet well aware of main activities of the Consultative Council and to raise farmers’ awareness they have decided to conduct roundtables on main principles of the Council activities in cooperation with International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other international organizations active in the area.
“IFC provides technical assistance to the Council in its work with entrepreneurs to improve access to financing, provide consultative support on detecting problems impeding development of entrepreneurship and attracting investments, as well as organize an open dialogue between the regional government and the private sector,” Alizoda added.
