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Gov't and Investors Agree On Need for Central Public Procurement
Tuesday 23 March 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, March 23 (TASR) - According to foreign investors united in the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Slovakia, transparency of public procurement, flexibility of state aid and bureaucracy are the main trouble spots in the Slovak business environment.
"The most poignant questions were concerning the procurement and its transparency. A central public procurement could help this environment very much," said AmCham president Robert Simoncic at the meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Tuesday.
The premier also agreed with the idea of public procurement centralisation. "I believe that the parties that will build the new governing coalition will agree on central public procurement. I consider it to be an important step," said Fico, pointing out it would have two positive effects. One is the option of significant savings in the area which costs the state almost €3 billion. But mainly it increases the trust in this form of handling of the public finance. Central public procurement eliminates certain possibilities that emerge at the individual ministries," he said.
Fico claimed that the Government will use AmCham's experience when preparing eventual legislative amendments, pointing to the planned meeting between AmCham's representatives and Slovak Finance Minister Jan Pociatek. "We also have to come to an agreement that the Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek will negotiate possible amendments in law on investment help with the Chamber. AmCham proposes greater flexibility of this law in relation to foreign investors," explained Fico.
"The legislation will have to be amended, and we know how it works in other countries. We will surely be able to contribute to this, apart from what the next government going to be like," said Simoncic. According to him, a suitable model of functioning and transparent public procurement could be found in Nordic countries or in the United States, and the set-up is specific for each country.
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