A Bill for Agency for Development to be passed in Parliament in two weeks
A bill to establish the Agency for Development, an apex body expected to facilitate Foreign Direct Investment is being readied to be passed in Parliament, officials said.This is an apex body which will act as a catalyst to fast track areas in tourism, exports and investments, they added.
“A committee headed by Minister of International Trade, Malik Samarawickrama with a host of business leaders from all industry sectors is driving this initiative. This agency will statutorily enable bureaucratic red tape to be cut,” an official told the Business Times.
This is likely to be done within the next two weeks, according to the official. He said that the “archaic and draconian” Exchange Controls Act would be repealed which will boost FDI.He added that it will create systems to clear bottlenecks in facilitating FDI, while recommending changes in law and will ensure that applications for foreign investment are completed to commence business within 50 days.”This will certainly be a game changer in promoting investments,” the official said.
The committee which is discussing this initiative comprised Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy and Dr. Saman Kelegama business leaders namely MAS Holdings Chairman Mahesh Amalean, CEO of Brandix Ashroff Omar, Jeevan Gnanam, CEO of Orion City, CEO NDB R. Theagarajah, Ajit Gunewardene, Deputy Chairman John Keells Holdings along with other prominentpersonalities.This agency will be a one stop shop with overriding powers (of other ministries, etc) in order for faster approvals. “When a foreign investor comes to the BOI, They need to get more than 20 approvals and fill out much paperwork. “What the new Economic Agency aims to do is shorten this and prune the length of time,” he said.