Reformers Club 2009 Awards Ceremony and Dinner

Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Palais Ferstel, Vienna, Austria

The Doing Business Reformers’ Club convened on April 22 to celebrate the achievements of the top 10 reforming governments in 2008 as identified in Doing Business 2009.

Reinhold Lopatka, State Secretary of the Austrian Ministry of Finance, and Michael Klein, Vice President, Financial and Private Sector Development, World Bank-IFC, and Chief Economist, IFC, presented the awards to the Ministers who attended on behalf of their governments.

While ministers celebrated their achievements, they also sounded a note of caution that as the financial and economic crisis is unfolding, it is imperative that reforms pick-up pace so that regulation continues to support business startup and growth, which provide jobs and income.

Here is what some of them had to say:

Ricardo Duarte, Vice Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Colombia:
"We give the Doing Business report the highest priority and that is why we are making regulatory reform and the ease of doing business a national strategy in Colombia. In these difficult times, we are convinced that firms are the engine of our economy. They create growth. And we are committed to helping firms have better opportunities and to be more productive and to gain competitiveness."

Ajay Shankar, Vice Minister and Secretary to the Government, Ministry of Commerce, India:
"I’d like to complement the Doing Business team because this report has generated debate in all our countries. It has drawn attention to facets of doing business which many of us in the government thought were unimportant. It has created a climate of competition within my country so we can move forward in helping to improve the business environment, which in turn helps to create jobs and growth in the real economy."

The top 10 reformers are, in order, Azerbaijan, Albania, Kyrgyz Republic, Belarus, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Egypt. Each country reformed in at least three aspects of business regulation covered by the report and saw a substantial improvement in its ranking.

This year’s event also recognized governments that have adopted the most business regulation reforms measured by Doing Business in each region over the past five years: Georgia in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; Egypt in Middle East and North Africa; Colombia in Latin America and Caribbean; India in South Asia; Mauritius in Africa; and China in East Asia and Pacific.

The Doing Business Reformers’ Club 2009 meeting is the third annual event to celebrate the world’s top business regulation reformers. It was organized by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation with the support of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance.