A two-day regional meeting to improving the environment for Doing Business in Eastern and Southern Africa opened yesterday at the InterContinental Hotel, Balaclava.
The aim of the initiative piloted by a steering committee made up of top performing countries, the World Bank and the Regional Multidisciplinary Centre of Excellence (RMCE), is to support countries through peer to peer learning in designing and implementing policies that will improve the business environment in their countries and ultimately increase their world share of investment and exports.
The meeting also serves as a platform to promote the environment for Doing Business in Eastern and Southern Africa by regrouping key stakeholders to provide the required technical assistance and expertise in establishing a conducive and investor friendly business environment for the region.
Participants comprise of stakeholders from regional economic communities such as the COMESA and IOC member States, donor agencies, top reforming and performing countries in Doing Business reforms namely Rwanda, Botswana, South Africa and Mauritius, as well as the African Securities Exchanges Association and the NEPAD Business Forum including the European Union and the Agence Française de Développement.
In his opening address yesterday, at the launching of the Regional Initiative, in the presence of the World Bank Group Managing Director, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr. Pravind Jugnauth, stressed the importance of the regional initiative meeting, which has come at an opportune time in the backdrop of the financial and euro crisis when countries are reforming to be resilient and improve their competitiveness.
The Vice-Prime Minister also highlighted that Governments in Africa should continuously endeavour to improve the investment climate in their respective countries so as to reap from its benefits which are visible in terms of FDI inflows, job creation, optimal use of available resources and economic development and social progress. On this score, he emphasised on the need for macro-economic discipline, continuous reforms and a well trained workforce so that Africa, which has already integrated the world economy, can improve on its performance.
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