The government has formed two high-level panels to promote economic diversification and the creative economy and to simplify the process of doing business, according to two notifications issued by the Cabinet Division on Monday.

The 22-member National Taskforce on Deregulation and Business Facilitation will identify unnecessary procedural steps across licensing, approvals, clearances, taxation, customs, banking, capital markets, construction, environmental and local services, and provide guidance on simplifying them.

It will also provide policy guidance on implementing single-window services, service-level agreements, deemed-approval mechanisms and online tracking systems.

The 27-member National Steering Committee on Creative Economy will approve roadmaps for different creative sectors, review quarterly implementation progress and coordinate work across ministries and agencies.

The finance and planning minister will chair both panels, and progress will be reviewed quarterly.

The national taskforce’s membership includes the ministers for environment, industry, commerce and law, as well as the central bank governor, the chairman of the National Board of Revenue and the chairman of the securities regulator. Heads of Bangladesh’s main business organisations and chambers — the FBCCI, FICCI, DCCI, MCCI, BGMEA and BKMEA — will also sit on the panel.

The creative economy committee includes the ministers for cultural affairs, industries, commerce and housing and public works as members.

The committee also includes the state minister for planning; advisers to the ministries of finance and planning, telecommunications and information technology, and science and technology; the prime minister’s special assistant for health affairs; and the adviser for policy and strategy at the ministries of information and cultural affairs.

Secretaries of the finance division; ministries of information, youth, cultural affairs, industries, civil Aviation and tourism, women and children affairs, and housing and public works; and the ICT division have also been included as members.

The chairman of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) is also a member.

Private-sector figures such as the executive director of BRAC, the chief executive of HSBC Bangladesh, the director-general of the Bengal Foundation, Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology’s vice-chancellor and fashion designer and entrepreneur Bibi Russell are also included. Senior civil servants and the chairman of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation will also serve on the committee.

A specialised website will be created to monitor complaints, irregularities and delays involving investors or service recipients and, where appropriate, present them to the taskforce.

The finance division will provide secretarial support to the taskforce, while an additional secretary from its Macroeconomics and TDM wing will serve as member-secretary of the creative economy committee.