Stakeholders during a consultative workshop on Monday agreed to initiate the legislative process to introduce the Asaan Karobaar Bill in the Parliament at the earliest.
This was decided during the Workshop on Asaan Karobaar Bill, which was attended by over 80 participants including representatives from the public & private sectors, all the provincial governments, AJK, GB, Finance Division, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Pakistan Single Window (PSW), Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Pakistan Business Council (PBC), KP-BOI, AJK-BOI, academia, etc.
Addressing the concluding session, Additional Secretary Board of Investment (BOI) Ambreen Iftikhar said that the valuable discussion between the stakeholders would be incorporated in the final draft of the Asaan Karobaar Bill.
She said that BOI was fully aware of the problems faced by different investors in initiating their businesses and in this regard valuable input was given during the consultative workshop.
She said that the Bill would ensure the protection and promotion of small business owners to run their businesses with ease and comfort. She also stressed the effective implementation of the Bill, once it would be passed by the parliament.
Addressing the workshop, Khashi-ur-Rehman, Additional Secretary, BOI said the workshop provided a platform to discuss the key provisions of the Asaan Karobaar Legislation, its benefits, and challenges, and for this purpose experts from different fields had been invited.
Earlier, in his welcome remarks, Director General (Reforms), BOI highlighted the challenges confronting the Asaan Karoobar Bill and said these challenges included; limited access to finances, lack of skilled labor, poor infrastructure, and a volatile business environment.
The Board of Investment (BOI) informed that the proposed Bill will be introduced in the Parliament by the end of this month after incorporating the valuable suggestions of the participants.