Karel van Kesteren: The economic development goes hand in hand with transparency, predictability and low administrative burden

June 24, 2010

“The economic development goes hand in hand with a transparent and predictable regulatory environment, with a low administrative burden for companies”, said Karel van Kesteren at the opening of the Dutch - Bulgarian round table “For better and more effective regulation”, which took place on Thursday. “Better regulation does not cost money, but on the contrary leads to concrete benefits in the medium and long term. At the same time, it can only be achieved if it is given firm political priority during a prolonged period of time”, the Dutch Ambassador added.



The one - day conference round table took place in Sheraton Sofia Hotel and was aimed at lowering the administrative burden for the business sector in Bulgaria by sharing the expertise of the Dutch Regulatory Reform Group, Dutch employer's organisation and the Bulgarian stakeholders. As one of the major investors in Bulgaria, the Netherlands is strongly aware of the great potential of Bulgaria for attracting foreign investments, but also of the serious obstacles that the bureaucracy and administrative burden form for realising this potential. Therefore the Netherlands supports the reform program of the Bulgarian government by sharing its experiences in the field.



Mr. Jeroen Nijland, Director of the Dutch Regulatory Reform Group, advised that in order to succeed in reducing the regulatory burden in Bulgaria there should be political commitment, quantitative targets, horizontal coordination, external control and stakeholder involvement. Ms. L.L. Doude van Troostwijk, from the Business Regulatory Burden Commission (Dutch employers organization) stressed that in the communication process it is very important to have an active participation from the business community.

The Ministers of Finance Simeon Djankov and of Economy, Energy and Tourism Traycho Traykov also participated in the conference. “The Dutch model of administrative regulation is based on the concept of reducing the costs of the businesses through improving the work of the state administration. Now we have the opportunity to learn from this model and become one of the role models in whole Europe“, said in his speech the Minister of Finance and his colleague Mr. Traykov claimed that good regulatory framework is among the basic success factors for every company and therefore for the growth and stability of the economy.



Among the topics of discussion were also the principles of better regulation, the Bulgarian Better regulation programme 2010-2013, ways of involving the business sector, the Standard Costing Model method and communication methods, etc. Representatives from the Government, the National Assembly, business organisations and independent experts also participated in the conference and joined the discussion.