This section presents a timeline for implementing the policy recommendations given throughout the report. It takes into account the need for the government to 1) make sure the proper tools for promotional activities are in place 2) strengthen the institutional setting and strategy of investment promotion, and 3) ensure a well-functioning facilitation system and better leverage the policy advocacy function. Further work on the recommendations will follow in OECD capacity-building workshops that will support implementation in 2022 and 2023. The workshops will be led by the State Committee for Investment and State Property Management and will include other stakeholders that can support the implementation process. The OECD will assist the process and invite experts to share their knowledge on the relevant policy areas.
To conclude, the OECD would like to emphasise the importance of the cross-cutting recommendations noted in the introduction.
I. Co-ordination, consolidation, and a whole-of-government approach go beyond just IPAs. Aligning priorities and creating productive communication channels with other government agencies, such as the Tax Committee and the administrations of the FEZs, would significantly improve the investor experience when legal disputes arise, since the IPA could serve as an official mediator. Even simply ensuring that IPA websites have clear links to other agencies’ relevant services and that technical information is consistent across sites would be a large improvement in giving investors a less confusing, whole-of-government experience.
II. Ensuring sufficient staff with the skills to attract and retain investors remains a priority across the board. The SCISPM has many mandates yet few staff members. The lack of employees with private sector experience means that they do not necessarily have the full spectrum of needed skills to engage with investors, such as expertise in marketing. Of course, increasing the budget and financial autonomy of the IPAs would allow them to hire more staff members with strong skills, yet with COVID-19 affecting the budget moving forward, other methods will have to accommodate. IPAs will need to “work smarter, not harder” in order to compensate for the small number of employees in Tajikistan’s resource-constrained environment. Clear prioritisation of tasks through an overarching investment strategy and specific sectoral targeting will maximise the impact of each staff member by ensuring they are spending their time on the most productive activities. Time-consuming investment promotion activities, like frequent events and news articles for websites, may not be as important as simple solutions like keeping track of investor information in a database. Digitalisation can help maximise the impact of a small staff as well. The more information that is easily accessible on a website and the more services that are digitised, the less work there will be for staff members responding to inquiries and providing routine services. This will allow them to spend their time on tasks that have a higher value-added for investors and therefore are more likely to lead to further investment, like customised targeting and support with legal issues.
III. The third theme is participating in the international investment promotion community to support the implementation of these recommendations and ensure continued adoption of best practices in the future as external circumstances evolve. Exchanges among peers on lessons-learned is both critical for short-term adaptation, as has become especially clear during the COVID-19 crisis, and as well as long-term strategic planning, particularly in the post-pandemic world (OECD, 2020[15]). Throughout this report and in related working group and capacity-building events, the OECD has drawn on lessons from IPAs around the world and invited international experts to share their experiences. It will continue to do so in the implementation-support activities that will be undertaken in 2022. However, this is just the start. The OECD founded its IPA Network, comprised of senior IPA officials of OECD and partner countries, in 2016 to encourage dialogue and the exchange of experience (OECD, 2020[15]). The OECD IPA network shares its expertise with peers from other parts of the world and will continue to be a resource on which Tajikistan can draw in the future.