TEHRAN – Members of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA)’s Industry and Mining Committee gathered on Saturday in a meeting with the head of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs’ Center for Studies, Monitoring and Improvement of Business Environment, to discuss issues in the way of improving the country’s business environment.

At this meeting, Ali Naqib, the head of the TCCIMA Industry and Mining Committee, addressed some of the problems of traders and businessmen in the country and underlined the promises that the government made to solve them through measures such as facilitating business, eliminating prescriptive pricing, creating a competitive environment in the economy and attracting investment.

“Despite the fact that some of these measures have been already taken, there have been no concrete and tangible outcomes for the businesses and it seems that the government’s actions are working against the economic interests of the country,” Naqib regretted.

Elsewhere in the gathering, Amir Sayah, the head of Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs’ Center for Studies, Monitoring and Improvement of Business Environment, referred to the tasks assigned to this center, including qualitative and quantitative improvement of licensing processes, identification of institutional, structural and legal obstacles to the development of the private sector activities, increasing competitiveness and improving the business environment, and said: “The participation of the private sector in determining the obstacles and bottlenecks of the business environment is very important.”

According to the official, the center's focus has been on resolving the issues related to business licenses in recent months, which have been mostly successful and soon a new system will be introduced in this regard.

“The new license issuance system will replace the previous system and the possibility of monitoring the processes will be provided in the new system,” he said.

Further in the meeting, other attendees also expressed their views and expectations on various issues including the collaboration of the private sector with the National Center for Studies, Monitoring and Improving the Business Environment in carrying out research studies, and the necessity of monitoring and taking necessary measures to control inflation and reduce the gap between income and expenses.

EF/MA