PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete has called on members of the business community to end the blame game and instead engage the government in constructive dialogue to address challenges in business environment.
He said in Dar es Salaam that his government was open for improved advocacy and dialogue with the private sector on business environment issues and there have been notable achievements in improving the environment for entrepreneurs and small businesses.
“It is my plea that we should continue to work together as partners than as foes or adversaries. In my opinion the best way to go is to explore ways of having the dialogue rather than resorting to a blame game,” he said in his opening remarks of the 8th Meeting of Tanzania National Business Council under the theme of “Enhancing Business Environment for Sustainable Growth.”
He said public-private sector dialogue was a key to good governance and development as it leads to improved relationship between the government and the private sector and increase levels of investor trust in the policy environment and in an improved legal, policy and regulatory environment for business.
Business environment reflected the state of relations between the government and the private sector where if they enjoy cordial relations and enjoy mutual confidence and trust, there would be no reason for having too many restrictive rules and regulations, he said.
“The surest way to improve the business environment is first to improve our working relations. Let each one of us honour each obligation responsibly and live up to the other partners’ expectation.
Let us uphold dialogue, engage constructively and work with one spirit with one common objective as a nation,” he appealed.
The government is keen to improve business environment after the country fared poorly in global rankings on the ease of doing business. According to the World Bank, Tanzania ranked number 131 in the Ease of Doing Business Index for 2015 out of 189 countries dropping one place from the 2014 index.
Unreliable electricity, business registration and licensing, access to finance, corruption and rent seeking and tax regime have been identified as among constraints to doing business in Tanzania.
According to the World Bank, the most significant constraint on growth as reported by 80 per cent of businesses operating in Tanzania, relates to the provision of electrical energy.
Since then, the government has included improving of business environment among the key priorities of the Big Result Now Initiative to speed up reform process and formed a taskforce that involves stakeholders under the coordination of the President’s Delivery Bureau and the Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) and the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF).
He said his government was committed to implementing the six key areas identified by the stakeholders in the business environment laboratory realigning of regulatory administrative institutions, namely realigning regulations and institutions; Access to Land and Security of Tenure; Taxation, Multiplicity of Levies and Fees; Curbing Corruption; Labour Law and skills set, Contract Enforcement, Law and order.
President Kikwete stated that some of the challenges have already been addressed or are in the process of being addressed, including review of our labour laws with regard to issuance of work permits and enhancement of the judiciary’s capability to address issues related to backlog of cases and the duration of handling of cases.
Others are introducing name and shame programme and the integrity pledges for private sector, government officials and political leaders to add value to the fight against corruption, he observed.
The president told the forum that he was hopeful that his successor would carry on from where his government would leave in improving the business climate to attract more private investments and mobilise larger domestic revenue.
The president called on the private sector to continue supporting the forthcoming administration, pointing out that he believed the new leader would carry on from where his government would end and build on the foundation they had built together. “One thing I am sure about.
There will be no back tracking on the role of private sector in the Tanzanian economy,” he stressed.
Curled: Daily News
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