The Role of Parliaments in Promoting Competitiveness and Economic Growth by Improving the Business Environment in Western Balkan Economies, March 6 -7, 2009, Belgrade, Serbia

Hosted by Ms. Gordana Čomić, Deputy President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, parliamentarians from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia attended a regional workshop in Belgrade on March 6 and 7, focusing on the role of parliaments in improving the business environment in the Western Balkans.

Participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina included representatives of the national parliament as well as parliamentary assemblies of two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska.

The role of parliaments in BEE reforms could be substantially improved, concluded the Business Environment Reform conference held in Podgorica, Montenegro in October of 2008. Other discussions among reformers in the Regional Network of Policymakers in South East Europe, launched by IFC, and expert evaluations, also reveal that the capacity of parliaments and parliamentary staff to evaluate and monitor regulatory quality and implementation is insufficient.

The parliamentarians, among them presidents of parliaments and members of parliamentary committees for economic issues, discussed ways of improving the quality of regulation and effectiveness of parliaments in adopting laws which affect the business climate. The current economic crisis and the slowdown in growth and investments faced by the economies in the region was one of the key themes under discussion.

The program included presentations by international and regional experts on tools and good practices in implementing regulatory reform, particularly the regulatory impact assessment (RIA) and the guillotine review of regulations.

Furthermore, the discussion focused on issues of regulatory reform and legislative harmonization in the context of EU accession, and how parliaments in the region can cooperate to meet these and other common challenges.

The workshop was supported by IFC and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) also provided funding.