[22 May 2017] – Under the ASEAN Strategic Action Plan on SMEs Development (SAPSMED 2025), ASEAN developed a Work Programme on “Starting a Business in ASEAN” which shall be implemented over the next ten years (2016-2025). The Work Programme shall contribute to these specific goals of the SAPSMED 2025.  Specifically, it aims at the following objectives: (i) Enhance transparency and improve orientation on administrative procedures; (ii) Develop effective coordination among government agencies in the business start-up process including one-stop-shop agencies/ single agency; (iii) Promote simplification, rationalization of business registration and upgrading of national company registers; and (iv) Strengthen ASEAN regional cooperation including development of ASEAN principles, registries, common company registration procedures and benchmark.

At the initiative of ASEAN Secretariat and with support by GIZ, Policy Dialogue Forum on Starting Business in ASEAN is set up as part of the Work Programme and to support the implementation of the Work Programme.  The main objective of the policy dialogue fora is to create a forum, a platform for sharing relevant policies, good practices, and tools and lessons learnt between Government agencies in charge of SME and of starting-up a business, private sector stakeholders, development organizations, research institutes in AMS a view to facilitating the regulation reforms, simplification and rationalization of procedures in starting-up business in AMS and in moving towards to a more harmonized starting up procedures in ASEAN.

Economica Vietnam has been entrusted by the ASEAN Secretariat and GIZ to formulate the concepts, develop the program, design the flow and moderate the policy dialogue. Economica Vietnam also help to identify of relevant stakeholders, especially those from the private sector in all of the ASEAN States to participate in the Dialogue. In addition, Economica experts also presented on the innovative policy tools and instruments which have been used by multiple ASEAN countries in the reform of regulations and processes related to business registration, starting a business.
 

The ASEAN SME Policy Dialogue on Starting a Business 2017 was held in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia on 15 May 2017, bringing together more than 80 public and private stakeholders in all ASEAN States. The policy dialogue helped to promote understanding between public institutions/ government agencies in charge of business registration (business start-up), and the business sector and third party agencies (e.g. notary, lawyers, etc.) about the issues related to business registration (regulation and administrative procedures) in respective AMS.  It also promoted the actions and implementation of reforms in regulations, administrative procedures in each of the AMS to improve and simplify business registration in each of the AMS, coordination between governmental and public agencies in each of the AMS in the business start-up process including one-stop-shop agencies/ single agency, and the exchange of views, good practices and the reforms of each AMS towards a harmonized business registration regulations and procedures in ASEAN. The policy dialogue also brought in first-hand information from practitioners (e.g. lawyers and notaries) being involved in the registration process. 

As a follow-up activity, Economica Vietnam prepare a full documentation of the event and also a concept for the ASEAN Policy Dialogue on Starting up a Business in 2018 which will be presented to the meeting of ASEAN Taskforce on Starting up a Business in Manila in November 2017.