The Bulldozer method obtained positive results in Bosnia Herzegovina, but can it be replicated elsewhere? The situation of BiH is surely unique due to the presence of a High Representative. However, Bosnia is not the only country where such an initiative has taken place.

# **6a- The Bulldozer and other “Competitiveness Partnerships”**

Similar processes have been started in Nigeria, with the “Better Business Initiative”, in Turkey, with the “Reform Program for the Improvement of the Investment Environment” and in Vietnam, with the “Vietnam Business Forum”. These initiatives are described in more detail below. Many public/private advisory mechanisms have also been initiated through NGOs across the world for decades. When targeted at improving the investment climate through concrete recommendations that enlist citizens in a country-wide or sector-wide movement, their intent and process are very closely related to those of the Bulldozer Initiative.

Such may also be the case of Ghana’s Investors’ Advisory Council (GIAC) started in May 2002, followed by Tanzania’s Investors’ Round Table (IRT) in July and Senegal’s Presidential Investors’ Council (PIC) in November. The role of these councils is to promote dialogue between the government and senior executives of local and international companies on ways to improve the investment climate. As envisaged, the councils will identify obstacles to investment and focus on a limited number of issues, to generate concrete recommendations for action and/or further analysis. It is hoped that the councils will reinforce implementation of ongoing policy reforms, by providing feedback and an international investors’ perspective on a country’s efforts to become a sought-after location for investment. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Madagascar, and Uganda are also among other African countries that have expressed interest in launching their own investor councils.<sup>12</sup> Such initiatives, that successfully overcome the lack of political will and/or capacity at the government level or within the private sector through a similar approach, could be described as “Competitiveness Partnerships”.

Complementing the systemic approach and framework reform efforts of governments and international agencies, Competitiveness Partnerships mobilize the local business community to identify concrete legislative changes, advocate for their adoption and follow-up on reform implementation. By going the last mile in delivering concrete, quantifiable results across the full spectrum of private sector development indicators, Competitiveness Partnerships are establishing a renewed reform dynamic through government-backed public-private partnerships.

# **6b- It takes three to tango**

A Competitiveness Partnership could be applied in a country with three key actors in place: the private sector, a potentially responsive government, and last but not least, a sponsor. Assessing the applicability of Competitiveness Partnerships amounts to assessing the readiness of those actors to interact.

# <u>The private sector</u>

- The private sector needs to feel a _basic sense of security_ , and _have a stake in reform_ . Entrepreneurs who face threats to life or limb are unlikely to start voicing their business concerns, either because it is not a vital priority for them and their families, or because doing so could put them in great danger. However, if the security situation is stabilized, then they will have a greater interest in improving the conditions in which they do business.

- It needs to be somehow _organized_ , with some entrepreneurs able to provide _leadership_ . A country with no business advocates whatsoever will be hard to mobilize. But if the country is already hosting, even disparately, some entrepreneur networks, business

12 Investor councils examples are cited from Jacqueline Irving’s “Investors Councils: Status report as of April 2003”, IMF, 2003 Page 27 of 51