Namibia launches one-stop center for investors to improve ease of doing business

WINDHOEK, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Namibia on Friday launched a one-stop center for investors aimed at streamlining procedures for new and existing investors to enable them to conduct their businesses in a conducive investment environment.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Namibian Minister of Industrialisation and Trade (MIT) Lucia Iipumbu said the center exists to facilitate efficient services as well as boost the confidence of both local and foreign investors in all productive sectors of the economy.

"The center is a crucial investment facilitation mechanism where relevant government offices are coordinated at a single point to provide prompt, efficient and transparent services to investors to shorten and simplify administrative procedures and guidelines ultimately, thereby removing bottlenecks faced by both local and foreign investors in establishing and running businesses in Namibia," she said.

"The improvement of our country's ease of doing business is a critical precondition in ensuring that this strategic objective is fulfilled, through the operationalization of the investor's One Stop Center," she added.

The center is a single access point for information and services to investors, housing nine Public Entities that are critical to the investment facilitation process, said Iipumbu, adding that investors will be dealing directly with the One Stop Center, which is situated in the Namibian capital of Windhoek.

The services offered will range from consultations, business information, facilitation of visas and work permit applications, and provision of relevant information regarding business registration services such as business establishment, income tax and VAT and investment support, amongst many others.

According to Iipumbu, the center will be complemented by a working committee, composed of public and private sector stakeholders who will be responsible for driving change in the domestic economy regarding the ease of doing business.

"In our bid to attract and facilitate investments, MIT in collaboration with other stakeholders is currently at the consultative stage of enacting a revised Namibian investment law to facilitate the attraction of investments and growth of sectors as per the new investments dictates and other strategic investment priorities of the country," she said.