The industrialisation and trade ministry is scheduled to undertake public consultations on Special Economic Zone Bill (SEZ), National Informal Economy, Startups and Entrepreneurship Development Policy (NIESED), Namibia Investment Promotion and Facilitation Regulations and National Cooling Strategy.
These consultations have been necessitated after Namibia phased out the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) scheme and is currently transitioning to the SEZ. This was done as the EPZ proved unsuccessful, yielded no requisite tax to Treasury and led to Namibia being almost blacklisted as a tax haven. This required the reconsideration of the EPZ and the need to seek for a more conducive and sustainable regime, hence the shift to SEZ.
According to ministerial spokesperson Elijah Mukubonda, the ministry is also in the process of developing a National Policy on the Informal Economy, Startups 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 stated.
He added: “Additionally, following our consultations which were held 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 inputs.”
The ministry is scheduled to undertake the public consultations on the three key legislative and policy documents in a clustered format to gather input from all stakeholders. This implies that Erongo and Otjozondjupa regions will be consulted on the same date (Monday, 5 February at Protea Hotel) in Walvis Bay; the ‘four O’ regions namely Oshana, Omusati, Oshikoto and Ohangwena will be consulted in Oshakati (Monday, 12 February 2024 at Leo Shoopala Hall, Oshakati) while Omaheke and Khomas regions will be consulted in Windhoek (Friday, 9 February at Ministry of Home Affairs Auditorium).