HRH Premier orders easy procedures for investors, businessmen

Manama, Nov. 25 (BNA): His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa today paid a visit to the Bahrain Investors' Centre, where he held an open meeting with businessmen and investors, in the presence of a number of Deputy Premiers and the Chairman of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI). HRH Premier was briefed on the problems facing investors and businessmen, and discussed with them solutions to them. He issued directives to implement the agreed-upon solutions, and continue efforts to find a system that facilitates work at the work at the Bahrain Investors' Centre and the Municipal One Stop Shop. HRH the Prime Minister tasked the Ministerial Committee for Financial Affairs and Rationalising Expenditure to discuss with the ministries and government departments reasons for delaying responses to investors' requests, as well as the possibility of considering the license of the investment project accepted if the concerned side does not reply within a specific period of time. HRH the Prime Minister also requested the Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister to implement the solutions on which investors and businessmen had agreed immediately. The minister was also instructed to revise the current electronic system that examines the licenses of investment projects to avoid the detected flaws and rectify them in cooperation with the Informatics and e-Government authority immediately, as recommended by businessmen and investors. He was also requested to reduce the number of government departments involved in investment projects licensing to a minimum by keeping only the departments which are directly related to the field of the projects. HRH Premier also issued directives to the minister to reduce the conditions and procedures required for granting licenses to investment projects. "The government has set up directorates, departments and agencies to facilitate procedures for investors, not to complicate them. Therefore, slow examination of investment requests and procrastination are rejected categorically. Everyone should assume their responsibilities, and it is not acceptable that employees or officials who are expected to serve investors delay transactions pretending that they are not authorised to do so," he said. HRH Premier affirmed that investment legislation and laws have been enacted to support investment, and not to impede it, noting that officials' usual statement that "everything is fine" will no longer be accepted unless it is coupled with a reality that supports it, and the citizens and customers prove that the situation is really fine. HRH Premier urged officials in government departments and the Bahrain Investors' Centre to follow-up closely on all issues and be always ready to intervene on time to resolve potential obstacles that may face investors to solve them and ensure that requests are not delayed. HRH the Prime Minister asserted that the government and its various bodies will go ahead with the speedy issuance of licenses for investors, confirming his personal follow-up and that of the Executive Committee, chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, on investors' remarks and complaints, out of the government's belief in the importance of investment in economy. HRH Premier also highlighted the government constant keenness on improving the investment atmosphere in the kingdom and removing all obstacles that may affect Bahrain's competitiveness potentials and leading status in the fields of business and investment through regular revision of laws that regulate the investment field to make sure they cope with the needs of investors and the global market's developments. Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed bin Rashid Al-Zayani extended utmost gratitude to HRH Premier for visiting the Bahrain Investors' Centre and being informing about its work mechanisms. The minister lauded the Prime Minister's interest in the Bahrain Investors' Centre, and stressed his leading role in the kingdom's economic march, praising the Premier's sound directives to upgrade the centre's services. BCCI Chairman, businessmen and investors praised HRH Premier's constant support to them and keenness to remove all obstacles facing investors or merchants. They also lauded his incessant follow-up on the work of the private sector, and directives to streamline procedures for it.