MCCI urges govt to issue trade licence for 5yrs

The business leaders of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) on Thursday urged the government to allow trade licence issuance and renewals for at least five years instead of every year.

This will ease doing business in Bangladesh as it takes a lot of time and effort to get licences renewed every year, they said.

The remarks were made at a programme titled ‘Issuance and Renewal of Licences for 5 Years’ organised by MCCI in its auditorium in Dhaka.

Discussing trade licences, fire licences, environmental licences and others issues, MCCI President Md Saiful Islam said doing business at ease contributes a lot to expanding investment in a country. Foreign investors decide to invest in a country after scrutinizing parameters of trade and investment characteristics. They also look for indexes of business facilitation and various activities before investment, he added.

There is no country in the globe where trade licence has to be renewed every year.

“We want policy support from the government to avoid the hassle we go through every year. Even the government can ensure huge revenues in the first year of issuing licences at a time if the system is fixed for five years,” he also said. As Russia-Ukraine war has created an uncertainty in the world a good environment is needed to be created for trade and investment to strengthen the economy of Bangladesh,” Saiful said.

Starting a business requires several licences from different government offices. Former MCCI President Nihad Kabir pointed out that trade licences for e-commerce and f-commerce companies are prerequisites. It should be avoided to help nearly four lakh entrepreneurs.

BGMEA Acting President Md Shahidullah Azim mentioned that the ready-made garment sector was eyeing $100 billion export volume by 2030 and 5-year licence period would very much be welcome by the sector.

Mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh assured all possible help from his office in providing solutions to the issues faced by the business community.

He also commended MCCI’s efforts in leading a dynamic private sector. DSCC has raised its overall revenue by ensuring good governance without raising tax rates. Taposh also said the relatively high tax and AIT involved in obtaining trade licences in respect to the fees paid to DSCC was another factor to be taken into consideration.

“There are some bureaucratic complexities in the country. We may face a complicated situation collecting VAT and AIT if we fix five years for trade licence issuance and renewals. However, we will try to ensure a hassle-free environment at all stages,” DSCCI Mayor hoped.

MCCI Senior Vice-President Kamran T. Rahman, Vice-President Habibullah N. Karim and its several members also spoke on the occasion.