«INTRODUCING ‘SINGLE WINDOW’ SYSTEM HELPS FIGHT BUREAUCRACY», O. DESCAMPS

             Dushanbe, April 2nd. (NIAT "Khovar", Timur Bandishoyev). — On April 1st, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon received the Director of the Business Group for Central Asia and the Caucasus of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (TBRD) Olivier Descamps. After the conversation was over, the EBRD Business Group Director briefed journalists on its contents and results.             "It was a very long and good meeting", Mr. Descamps said in the beginning.             "It was important for EBRD to understand which tasks this country has to decide and which are the problems it faces with this year", the high-ranking representative of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development noted. "The Bank has been Tajikistan's partner for a prolonged period. Last year, Tajikistan was granted by us financial means in the sum of US$ 70m, designed exclusively for banking and private sectors. In the context of the strategy that has been recently adopted by EBRD for rendering help to this country, Mr. President and I discussed our priorities".    According to Olivier Descamps, three spheres were discussed during the conversation, wherein the European Bank has a rich experience. The first of them is related to financing and increasing capitals of banks and micro-financing institutions.               "It is important these days that banks have opportunities to credit agricultural enterprises and small businesses. Above half, or two thirds of EBRD funding this year will be directed at maintaining banking and micro-financing sectors", stressed he.                The second sphere from those discussed by the parties relates to agricultural business and production. The representative of EBRD noted that the Bank fully approves of the reforms and measures undertaken by Tajikistan's Government in agricultural sector.              "In this domain, everything is being done in strict conformity with the agreement concluded by Tajikistan and IMF", said Olivier Descamps. "Within the framework of these reforms and issues, the problems are being solved that arose in the past. The reforms are aimed at diversifying agriculture, but also to secure new mechanisms and changes in the field of funding precisely the cotton-growing sector. That means the funding should differ from the way that was used before. EBRD is ready to take part in this process, since the European Bank has worked out a minor program based on sufficiently new innovative approaches and conceptions. We agreed to double the scale of the program this year". The Director of the Business Group for Central Asia and the Caucasus of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development went on to note that the program may serve a model for other parties that render assistance to this country's agricultural sector.               The last sphere touched upon by Emomali Rahmon and Olivier Descamps at their meeting deals with energy sector.              "I heard of problems arising in energy supply of rural areas and some regions. So we discussed possibilities for EBRD, together with private sector, to promote, at the initial stage, the construction of low and medium capacity hydropower stations, along with creating a legal base and rules of fixing tariffs exactly in this sector. We agreed upon ways of our intensifying assistance to municipalities, both in the north and the south of the country", the EBRD Business Group Director went on to elaborate. Last year, EBRD started with the implementation of a water supply project in the northern city of Khujand. This time a series of project to be carried out in the south of the country was reviewed.              "Considering those projects are to be aimed at rendering help to the locality inhabited by the low-income population, we should be very accurate which would be respective mechanisms of implementation and how costs of services would be fixed. To this end, EBRD is now discussing with donor organizations possible ways of participating in these projects, with EBRD co-funding them in the form of grants. Basing on the result of the Tajik President's meeting with representatives of the European Parliament in Brussels, we now apply to the European Commission for obtaining means aimed at rendering help to Tajikistan in the forms of grants", Olivier Descamps said. Besides, he assured the RT President that EBRD is committed to helping Tajikistan and reviews all possibilities of rendering more assistance to the RT, particularly with the aim of supporting private and banking sectors, and micro-financing institutions, small enterprises in agricultural sector and those larger ones in agricultural business, etc. As the high-ranking representative of EBRD stated, the Bank will have a close cooperation with the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank which render assistance in these fields as well.              "EBRD can provide Tajikistan with more means as compared with previous periods", Mr. Descamps went on saying. The Bank can also provide with means on the grant basis, on the account of the sums given by the European Union and Switzerland. Besides, EBRD can give grant means on the account of profits earned by the European Bank.              "We did not made it before", said he. "We did not give grants on the account of our own means. We may also have a deep insight into Tajikistan's needs and requirements and start formalizing the projects planned for implementation in Tajikistan in shorter time than it was agreed upon initially. Besides, EBRD may shorten terms of the projects whose implementation is now underway in the RT".               Mr. Descamps went on to inform that the Bank revised the whole EBRD portfolio for Tajikistan, consisting of US$ 150m, and reviewed every project separately to make sure the finished projects had been implemented in a proper way. "In the course of the conversation with Emomali Rahmon I noted that his initiative for cooperating with the Advisory Council for Improving Investments Climate guarantees the rise of investors' confidence, because it is a good opportunity to hear entrepreneurs' opinions, undertake certain pragmatic steps and help the development of entrepreneurship", he added.              "The Tajik Government's priority is the improvement of investments climate, which will be possible through adopting pragmatic, quick-to-implement and perceptible decisions", Olivier Descamps said. According to him, the introduction of the ‘one-window' permit system for entrepreneurs is one of ways to fight bureaucracy and eliminate burdensome procedures now in use in the process of state registration of entrepreneurial activities.