Nine months of the year dedicated to reforming the business
environment are now over. B.Arvinbayar, Chief of the Private Sector Policy of
the National Development and Innovation Committee (NDIC), answers our
journalist’s questions on what has been achieved.

How much reform has been
put in place?
We identified 131 measures for implementation this year, most of which are related
to the reform of the legal environment. State officials, entrepreneurs and
international organizations have discussed them and we have collected all
opinions. Report of progress has been submitted to the Government.

It was said that the number
of permissions needed before grant of a construction license would be brought
down by half. They were 114 at the beginning of the year; how many are they now?
We considered many aspects of the legal environment for business. The Ministry
of the Justice had 81 laws and we found many of them repeated the same
provisions. Some laws were difficult to understand and interpret. The Ministry
began a screening and pruning process with help from the German organization
GTZ. The program also framed new regulations, such as on loan collateral, on
raising capital in the market, and on insurance. Our aim remains to halve the
number of permissions required and a working group headed by the First Deputy
Prime Minister and including State Secretaries and private sector
representatives will decide on which ones are to go. The International Financial
Corporation has also helped with suggestions.
As regards the construction field the Professional Monitoring Agency will give
4 permissions instead of 7 to 4 and the Ministry of Roads, Transportation,
Construction and Urban Planning has also reduced its 7 to 4.

Is this already
effective?
Some have taken effect and time is also saved by some Ministries and Agencies
offering one-point service. Most of the permissions are taken from the local
administration. These have not yet been touched as the private sector has not said
which ones they find unnecessary.

What have you done
about easier access to credit for entrepreneurs?
The program was not allocated any funds this year so the proposed increase
in loans for small and medium enterprises could not be effected. Next year we
shall have MNT16 billion as capital and another MNT16 billion from repaid loans.
There should also be a second-phase grant from the Japanese Government. We are
working on determining the amount that should be in the budget as capital for
enterprises that will support job creation.

What measures have
been taken to strengthen the private sector?
We are processing the opinions of the related Ministries and have held
talks with 4-5 business organizations. The regulations should be clear and
comprehensive.