Wednesday –Livingstone, Zambia 17 May 2017, The Ministry of Commerce & Industry led a delegation to participate in the Eighth Ease of Doing Business Indicators Conference to share experiences on the role of the Business Reform Committee in championing pro-business reforms across ministries and agencies.

Other members of the delegation came from the Liberia Revenue Authority and the National Bureau of Concessions. The 4-day mission was facilitated by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) from Monday, 15 to Thursday, 18 May 2017.

Honorable Steve Marvie, Deputy Minister for Commerce, joined Zambian Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Honorable Margaret Mwanakatwe, for a high-level panel to discuss the opportunities to leverage business environment reforms for industrialization, value addition and job creation. They had the opportunities to present updates from the region using Doing Business Reforms as a tool to enhance business reforms and benefits to the private sector. Minister Marvie stressed the importance of putting in place structures and exercising a spirit of political commitment critical to drive reforms across the public sector. Minister Mwanakatwe indicated that it was important to focus on the quality of the reforms.

The World Bank indicated that 80 reforms were implemented over the year across Sub-Saharan African, thus making the region the beacon of reforms. Some key topics covered during the conference were “What is Hot in Business Regulation in the World?, Ways to enhance Access and Efficiency to Electricity in growing Economies and manage ever-growing Demand of Power, Implementation of Special Economic Zones, The role of the Mining Sector in Business Reforms, Collateral Registry, Online Business Registration and Trading Across Borders (Use of ASYCUDA)”.