Vidot explained that the authorities were aiming to tackle the long lasting ease of doing business on a national level first. (Joe Laurence)
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With the aim to improve Seychelles' ease of doing business global ranking, government officials met on Tuesday in a forum to discuss necessary measures.
Present at the meeting at the STC Conference room were the various governmental organisations and departments that have a role to play in the ease of doing business in Seychelles.
The Minister for Investment and Entrepreneurship, Devika Vidot, told reporters that the forum was a "chance to address the issues in a serious, brave and frank manner."
This is the second such meeting that the authorities held to address the issue of Seychelles being ranked 100th in the World Bank's ease of doing business index.
"We are not satisfied with this ranking and are working hard to improve it," said the minister.
The only area that the island nation in the western Indian Ocean has scored good points in the index is tax collection where it came out 36th.
Vidot explained that the authorities were aiming to tackle the long lasting "ease of doing business on a national level first, as institutions such as the World Bank usually received their input from local businesses. This is proof of the challenges local businesses face every day – which is something that is of great concern to me."
She added that "once we are able to improve the situation internally, this will then have a positive impact on our international ratings."
Vidot revealed to the press that "since many governmental entities believed that the ease of doing business was only her Ministry's concern; these meetings are to show that that this is not the case and that the current approach is not allowing them to go far."
In addition to a change of mindset, the authorities also plan to put some simple but effective changes in place to achieve its set target.
Vidot said there are plans to have the governmental bodies publish their standards, as well as to make it mandatory that members of the public are made aware of the documents they need to submit and how long it takes to process their applications among others.
"We also want the agencies to be more in tune with their client's needs; we want them to understand that they are there to serve the public and businesses," she said.
Digital solutions are also among the measures the authorities plan to adopt at the beginning of next year through a project that will be the fastest way to integrate the various government agencies' services.
Vidot admitted that the current challenges found in some of the current legislation "have led to many governmental agencies relying heavily on others to get the task completed."
