The committee resposncible for reviewing the progress of
business environment reforms held its third meeting of the year yesterday and expressed
happiness that results of the program could be seen. Prime Minister S.Batbold
was in the chair, and  stressed that the
goal of the program could not be attained so fast and  the work would 
continue in the next year.

The Prime Minister reported that substantial improvement
had been achieved in dispensing with unnecessary paperwork and duplication of business
documents in areas such as construction. Fewer permissions were now needed from
the General Agency for State Inspection. Arrangements were being made to
provide one-point service to fulfill customs, professional monitoring, tax and
registration requirements.The Prime Minister set December 20 as the deadline to
list all pending work, including amendments to laws.

The Chairman of the National Development and Innovation Committee,
Ch.Khashchuluun, similarly described some successful developments.

Deputy Prime Minister M.Enkhbold, who heads the working group established by
the Prime Minister to implement the reforms, reported that information received
from 11 Ministries and 25 Agencies at the beginning of the year had shown 337
permissions   were needed to open and run a business. The number has been
brought down to 107, saving entrepreneurs’ time and possible harassment.
Further efforts are on to reduce bureaucratic control. At present, a building company
needs permission from 120 officials before it begins work and this can take up to
480 days. The plan is to reduce the number of permissions to 56 and limit the
time to 182 days.

The President of the Mongolian Employers’ Federation, Jantsan, agreed that the
program has been a big success, with state officials for the first time giving
a patient hearing  to businessmen. He
urged that it should continue until all its goals were met.