On Sept. 2, 2010, Crimean Premier Vasyl Dzharty cut the ribbon on the entry to the Crimean Republican and Simferopol City Permit One-Stop Shop, established with assistance from USAID.

The one-stop shop (OSS) inauguration ceremony, held in presence of officials, entrepreneurs, and media people, opened with a brief welcome by Crimean Council of Ministers Deputy Chairwoman Kateryna Yurchenko. She said the Simferopol City Executive Committee and the Crimean Economy Ministry participated actively in the creation of the permit center, and also mentioned technical assistance provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Local investment and National Competitiveness project (LINC).

According to Ms. Yurchenko, representatives from 26 authorities issuing 86 types of permits will work five days a week in the OSS, which will be not just a “formal center but one that will actually help entrepreneurs make their business road smoother.”

Crimean Council of Ministers Chairman Vasyl Dzharty thanked all the parties involved in the center creation, calling their job a “creative labor.” He stressed the importance of having various permit-issuing agencies come together to work at the center, saying that “we overstepped many things, and within the law we reached understanding on the part of all permit systems.”

USAID LINC Project Chief of Party Howard Ockman said that, as the director of the project, which operates within the framework of USAID’s technical assistance program, he would like to “express our sincere pleasure at having had the opportunity to partner with the republic and with the city on the creation of this center.” He said the USAID’s contribution to the OSS establishment included equipment and training. “We think that this center of course will accelerate the dynamism and growth of business and the entrepreneurial activity in Crimea and also in the city of Simferopol,” Mr. Ockman said.

Simferopol Mayor Hennadiy Babenko said that opening the permit center as a unified municipal and republican one-stop shop will, on the one hand, save time for entrepreneur on obtaining permitting documents, and on the other hand, allow the center itself to work more efficiently.

After Mr. Dzharty cut the ribbon across the entry to the center, he and other guests were showed into the premises, where they were able to see how the one-stop shop functions.

The Crimean Republican and Simferopol City Permit Center, as it is officially called in Ukrainian, has become the fourth permit-issuing one-stop shop opened on the Crimean Peninsula with assistance from USAID, and USAID LINC continues working to improve the operation of 22 more such centers in Crimean cities and raions.

In July, 2010, the Council of Ministers of Crimea approved an action pan for 2010 aimed at improving the permit-issuing system for business in the autonomous republic. The document provides for instituting unified document processing approaches, standardizing executive agency and local government services, ensuring transparency of permit-issuing, and increasing the level of expertise of permit-issuing one-stop shops’ staff. USAID LINC contributed to the drafting of the action plan by providing ideas and making suggestions, some of which were utilized in the final text.

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