Portals providing detailed, up-to-date information on registering enterprises honoured at World Investment Forum.
Armenia, Iraq, Lesotho and Montenegro have received Global Enterprise Registration (GER.co) awards for the quality of online information portals that provide detailed, up-to-date information on creating a business, during UNCTAD’s World Investment Forum in Geneva, Switzerland.
Armenia, Iraq, Lesotho and Montenegro are among 134 countries listed on GER.co that have information portals describing the business creation process step-by-step, from the user’s point of view, showing all the necessary contacts, forms, costs and other requirements for each step. They gained a maximum rating on GER.co by making their business creation process entirely transparent.
“GER’s objective is not to give countries good or bad marks but to promote the exchange of good practices and offer criteria to assess the quality of business registration websites,” UNCTAD’s director of investment and enterprise James Zhan said at the 24 October awards ceremony.
To meet this goal, Mr. Zhan announced he was launching a campaign to invite all countries in the world to put their business creation requirements online by the year 2020 and to list them on GER.co. He also thanked the United States of America for its generous support of this project.
GER.co winners 2018
Armenia
What the judges said: The Republic of Armenia has made impressive progress in the field of government, featuring prominently in international rankings for the quality of its public service and ease of doing business. The government of Armenia, in cooperation with the Armenia Business Council, has taken an additional step by publishing its business registration procedure online.
Iraq
What the judges said: The Republic of Iraq has been recognized for the government’s efforts to clarify and publish business registration procedures on the Iraq eRegulations portal. In the reconstruction phase currently underway in Iraq, swift and transparent administrative procedures are essential to boost entrepreneurship and attract foreign investment.
Lesotho
What the judges said: The Kingdom of Lesotho has undertaken courageous reforms to make its public administration more efficient and to make it easier for businesses to comply with the rules.
Montenegro
What the judges said: Increasing transparency and simplifying administrative procedures is a goal that the government of the Republic of Montenegro is committed to, in full cooperation and for the benefit of the private sector.
Launched in October 2014, the GER.co portal is a world index of online business information and registration sites developed by UNCTAD, in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurship Network and the United States Department of State. Its primary objective is to enable entrepreneurs worldwide to comply with laws and regulations and build thriving formal businesses.
The portal lists and rates information portals and single windows. Information portals describe the business creation process with single windows enabling online business registration.
GER.co enables investors and entrepreneurs to obtain information on business creation procedures in any country in the world and register their businesses online. The complicated, multiple steps and processes involved in carrying out legitimate business in any given country are then simplified and transparent, helping micro, small and medium-sized enterprises that do not always have the means to tackle these complex procedures.