Transcript
AARON LEVINE: What we have done is, we have extended what was in place from an earlier project where we put company registrations on line, and obviously that caters to one particular market, for those wanting to set up relatively larger businesses. So we have now got business names on line and they are typically the type of business licence used by smaller businesses, sole traders, people all around the country and we saw that when they were doing a paper registration it was very slow and very cumbersome. So now they can efficiently fill out their forms on line. What we have also done is we have brought the foreign investment process on line, so that is going to really out those foreign investors who have some interest in investing in the Solomon Islands. And we think that with the new brand, called 'Invest Solomons,' people will have a really positive first impression when they are looking at doing business in the country.
DON WISEMAN: This process started with these registrations I think four years ago, so what have you noticed in the intervening four years?
AL: What we noticed is that it immediately took down the time to register a new company, from around a month to just one day, and we also saw a doubling of the number of companies, compared to the time before the reform. So what we are hoping to see is that we see some kind of activity on the foreign investment front and on the business name and registration front as well. What is really important for foreign investment is we want to be able to attract really good quality foreign investment as well that is going to make a genuine development contribution to the country, create jobs, bring capital and knowledge. And we hope with this reform that will be more possible, as well.
DW: Doesn't it make it harder to police if it is done quickly?
AL: It's an interesting question. What is actually happening is we are not cutting down any of the safeguards in the process, what we are doing is cutting out the postal service in the process. So the same information has to be provided that you would have to provide by paper but now it is just going direct to the office on line. The officers then scrutinise the application in the same way as they would if it was paper but if there is a problem with it what they can do is immediately go back to the customer, who is notified by email and say ''provide some more information and re-submit" if anything it is going to make it more efficient without compromising the quality.
DW: So your organisation then, the Pacific Private Sector Development Intiative, would see this as a huge plus for what is really, and has been for many years, a struggling commercial sector, in Solomon Islands.
AL: What PSDI, as part of the Asian Development Bank hopes to see is exactly that, continuing step by step to take away these barriers to doing business in the country. We would love to see this increase economic activity and create more jobs all over the country.
