3 services added to Bida’s online One-Stop Service
A total of 21 services, including Bida's own 14 services and seven services from six other organisations, will be provide under the online One-Stop Service
As part of a plan to improve Bangladesh's ranking in the World Bank's ease of doing business index and to attract foreign investment, the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida) has added three more dedicated services to its One-Stop Service (OSS) centre.
From now on, Bida's OSS portal will provide National Identity verification from the Election Commission Secretariat's servers, security clearance in favour of foreign nationals from the Security Services Department and land use clearance services from the Chittagong Development Authority.
With the three new services, a total of 21 services, including Bida's own 14 services and seven services from six other organisations, will be provided under the online One-Stop Service, reads a Bida press release.
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Salman F Rahman, the prime minister's adviser on private sector industries and investment, inaugurated the services as the chief guest at an online meeting on Wednesday.
At the beginning of the meeting, Bida Executive Chairman Md Sirajul Islam, who presided over the meeting, said the Bida is working towards a better investment-friendly environment and better business.
"So far, we have signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with 12 organisations. In a few days, MoUs will be signed with 10 more companies, which will enable us to provide more services to investors through OSS," he added.
At the same time, he hopes to provide more than 150 services of 35 service providers through OSS within the next year.
Salman Rahman said, "Without domestic and foreign investment, we will not be able to reach our desired goal. Ten years ago it may have been unthinkable that our export earnings, foreign exchange reserves and budget would be so large."
He said over the last ten years, Bangladesh's average economic growth has been above 7 percent. Last year it was 8.1 percent. Per capita personal income has also increased.
"All of this has been possible due to the efficient leadership of our prime minister and liberal investment friendly policy," added Salman Rahman.
He said, "We have not been able to achieve our desired goal this year due to the global coronavirus pandemic, but we have to move forward and create the best environment for business and investment."
Md Alamgir, senior secretary to the Election Commission Secretariat, Md Shahiduzzaman, secretary to the Security Services Division under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and Md Shahid Ullah Khandaker, secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, outlined the methods of implementation of services on behalf of their respective organisations.
Bida signed an agreement with Business Automation Ltd in September 2018 to provide all kinds of services online to domestic and foreign investors.
The activities of the online based One-Stop Service portal were launched in February 2019.
