A cabinet meeting held, on Wednesday, on simplifying and speeding up administrative procedures to boost investment, decided that limited liability companies will be created from now on within one-hour time in one-stop shops of the Industry Promotion Agency (API), in the cities of Tunis, Sousse and Sfax, and in 24 hours in all governorates, as of April 15, for activities falling under the Investment Code.
During this meeting, the Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali ordered other measures including deliver the fiscal identification card within 24 hours, starting April 15, regarding individual projects, broadening the scope of intervention of the one-stop shop of API so that it would cover all company types, including trading companies, by late 2010, cutting the number of documents required for the creation of a project, and not requesting from investors documents already handed to the same ministry, as of April 15, 2010, canceling the procedure of submitting certified true copies regarding documents issued by the administration, standardizing the fiscal and customs identifier starting June 2010, shorten terms for approving totally exporting premises and classify new activities in a period of time not exceeding 24 hours, starting April 15.
Other measures ordered:
– Speed up interventions of the Fund of Innovation and Technological Promotion, created with investment of 50 million dinars (MTD), to increase self-resources of innovating industrial companies in order to finance investments from 100,000 dinars to 5 MTD, in the innovating activities sector and as part of high added-value projects and those with a high integration rate.
– Speed up creation of a Fund for Support to the Financial Restructuring of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with investments of 25 MTD to increase self-resources of SMEs operating in the sector of industry and relevant services which joined the upgrading programme and are considering financial restructuring with an investment volume of 5 MTD.
– Boost business centres’ role in supporting and following up post-creation phase and setting up a network of distance co-operation between these centres.
– Update studies and further publicise ideas of projects by holding more regional investment and partnership conferences, highlighting results of their works, boosting regional committees for the creation of enterprises and energising innovating projects.
– Strengthen cells created within banks and dedicated to the guidance of SMEs and further publicise function of the bank mediator, and endeavour to benefit from the procedure providing for earmarking to small enterprises 20% of the estimated annual value of public transactions for the supply of services and studies.
