Ministry to hold consultations on legislative documents

The minister of industrialisation and trade, Lucia Iipumbu, will hold public consultations on the special economic zone bill, national informal economy, start-ups and entrepreneurship development policy, Namibia investment promotion and facilitation regulations and national cooling strategy.

According to a statement issued by the ministry’s spokesperson, Elijah Mukubonda, on Friday, Namibia phased out export processing zones (EPZ) and is now transitioning to special economic zones (SEZ) because the EPZs did not deliver the required results and yielded no requisite tax to the state treasury, leading to Namibia getting nearly blacklisted as a tax haven.

“This necessitated the reconsideration of the EPZ and the need to seek a more conducive and sustainable regime, hence the country’s shift to SEZs,” said Mukubonda.

He said the ministry is also in the process of developing a national policy on the informal economy, start-ups and general entrepreneurship.

“The policy aims to create an enabling environment, focusing on key aspects such as understanding the needs of informal business operators, providing entrepreneurial training, supporting business infrastructure for the sector, integrating digitalisation, and establishing incentives for sector development,” Mukubonda said.

“Additionally, following our consultations in 2022 on the Namibia investment promotion and facilitation bill, the ministry has developed the regulations which will guide the implementation of this law, hence these regulations will need public input,” he said.

The ministry will undertake public consultations on these three key legislative and policy documents in a cluster format to get input from a wider section of stakeholders.

Consultations for the Erongo and Otjozondjupa regions will be held on 5 February at the Protea by Marriot Hotel at Walvis Bay; the Omaheke and Khomas regions will have consultations on 9 February at the home affairs ministry auditorium in Windhoek, while the Oshana, Omusati, Oshikoto and Ohangwena regions will meet at Oshakati on 12 February at the Leo Shoopala Hall.
– email: matthew@namibian.com.na