Presiding over an expanded meeting with representatives of the private sector and businessmen in the presence of Ministers and representatives of the government sector in the Committee of Promoting Business and Investment Environment, the Prime Minister said that the private sector has great opportunities to play an effective and positive role in the economic growth of the country.
The Prime Minister reviewed the actions taken by the government based on the Committee's recommendations, which aim to overcome obstacles facing investment in the country, and underlined the need to implement HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani's directives to promote the economic growth in the State by providing a proper environment to diversify the economy and attract local and foreign investments.
Te Premier referred to a meeting which was held last October with heads of the listed companies in the presence of some of ministers as representatives of the government, where they reviewed the opinions and perceptions about the development of business and investment environment, and decided to form a joint committee of representatives of the government and the private sector, called the Committee of Promoting Business and Investment Environment.
The committee belongs to the Office of the Prime Minister and is tasked with discussing ways to overcome the obstacles facing the private sector, and studying the initiatives and proposals of joint ventures between the public and private sectors.
The Prime Minister and Interior Minister underlined the government's attention to the committee's recommendations to find the necessary solutions to enhance the business and investment environment in order to achieve the public interest of the state and the private sector.
The Premier reviewed some of the actions taken by the government, including the extension of the validity of commercial licences from one year to five years, and the current steps taken by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce to prepare legislative amendments to Law No 25 of 2005 concerning the commercial register, so as to allow extend the validity of commercial registration to 5 years and an extension of the deadline for the renewal of the commercial registration to two months.
The amendments will be submitted to the Cabinet General Secretariat to take legal action on its issuance in accordance to applicable laws.
The validity of environmental permits from the Ministry of Municipality and Environment were also extended from one year to three years, and it has been also working to facilitate the renewal of environmental licensing procedures.
Ministry guidebook on investment opportunities
HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani has said that the Ministry of Economy and Commerce will publish a guidebook to clarify the business activities and investment opportunities.
Chairing a meeting with representatives of the private sector and businessmen the Prime Minister said the the data in the guidebook will be updated continuously, and the Ministry will decide quickly on granting licences for informal events for the hotels and tourism sectors through a single window system.
The Prime Minister also called for the quick implementation of the electronic link between the various competent authorities to issue permits to facilitate the procedures, and to work on a study to facilitate the procedures for the lease and the rental model in order to simplify the issuance of licences and business records.
