Investment Services Centre makes things easier!

Efforts are made by the Investment Services Centre to enable starting a business in the Sultanate of Oman easier. It is doing the much-needed task of linking all concerned government organisations with the ‘Invest Easy’ portal. This makes the entire process of starting business easy, short and swift. It will also save

time and effort.

The government authorities concerned have taken lot of efforts to make the process of licensing and issuing of permits easy. They require registration of commercial activities and want to know how they add value to the economic activities in the Sultanate.

This process enriches markets, provides jobs and meets people’s requirements for products and services of their daily use. This requires dealings with the government organisations to achieve the goals to strengthen investments in the Sultanate, either national or foreign. This gives real positive image in the world about the investment environment in the country.

There is no doubt that the work being done by the centre is huge. It is an uphill task. It is doing all this in spite of its limitations and capacities. However, it is an effort to meet the requirements of the area. At the same time, once it is done, it will bring qualitative transformation in business.

The need of the hour is to improve international classifications of ease of doing business in the country. But all this depends on the conviction of officials and employees who are in the forefront of licensing in many government organisations. It is a must to bring such changes. It is necessary for economic development which reaches every citizen. People in the country want steps to speed up the process of

starting a business and also want to reduce time and effort.

Earlier, those who wanted to do business in the country and make investment had to go through a lengthy process for obtaining licences and permits. Now that is removed. The bureaucratic hassles have become a story of the past. There is focus on

making things easy for investors as it helps economic development and job creation.

Connecting 26 government entities to Invest Easy portal — which the centre intends to do by the end of this year — is a laudable step. Once it is completed, all licences and permits would be available at one window within a limited time period. This would reduce the time and efforts required. Through this window, the investors would be able to complete the entire work of application for the licences of all types.

They would not need to run from one corner to another. This new development will bring everything to the investors. Once it is started, it is expected that the number of applications for licences would increase as more investors would come forward with their plans and projects.

Earlier, they were reluctant as they were at the mercy of many organisations and centres of authority. This new system is meant to cut delays. Some people appear to be unhappy with this development and the efforts to meet the requirements of the investors. But these changes are need of the hour.

We are hopeful that the government would speed up its efforts to address the requirements of investors through Invest Easy portal. With this, obtaining all types of licences would become easy and swift. There would be no complication in the process. Everything would be hassle-free. The investors would not face the nightmare of bureaucratic mindset. This will prove to be a perfect solution.

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