Benin Tourism

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Beninese law guarantees the right to own and transfer private property. The government of Benin officially favors and encourages foreign investment.

Many opportunities for foreign investment have historically been linked to the privatization of state-owned enterprises, whose numbers have been reduced from 130 in 1980 to only four: the Offshore Drilling Rights company, SONAPRA (cotton), SBEE (electricity and water), and OPT (post and telecommunications). Privatization of these final parastatals is slow-moving. The government requires that
Beninese nationals partly own privatized companies.

Privatization of debt-ridden SONAPRA (begun in 2003) has stalled several times, prompting unions and the media to allege that corruption has taken root in the process. The cotton firm's 40 ginning plants were sold off in four equal lots. The low sales price of the gins aroused protests from trade unionists and the general public, and the President called for his Minister of Planning to oversee
renegotiation with the bidders. At the conclusion of the renegotiations, three of the four lots were approved for sale by the government, and the successful bidders were supposed to be in possession of their ginning factories by October 31, 2005.

However, SONAPRA deliberately failed to put the equipment at the ginning facilities in working condition. On the scheduled date of transfer, a combined delegation from the World Bank and the Ministry of Agriculture visited the ginning factories and found them still dismantled. The buyers are threatening to take the GOB to court if it does not solve this crisis. The electricity and water corporation, SBEE has been separated into two different companies, Electric Energy of Benin (SBEE) and the National Water Corporation (SONEB), but not privatized. At this stage the GOB seems unwilling to privatize this sector of the national economy.

OPT (postal service and telecommunications) has been split into two different companies: la Poste du Benin S.A. and Benin Telecom S.A., but has not yet been privatized. The World Bank and other international development banks fund many infrastructure renovation contracts with grants or loans. Some major contracts have been signed already while several more are still on the horizon. The current investment code establishes the conditions to obtain benefits under different investment regimes and grants extensive discretionary power to the Investment Control Commission at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The tax reforms introduced in recent years largely removed the need for special incentives to potential investors. The 1990 investment code was promulgated in order to establish a simplified system readily accessible to all investors. In recent years, the government established a "guichet unique" or one-stop shop at the Trade Ministry to help dispense with unnecessary and time-consuming formalities facing investors. Many investors complain that the investment code is difficult to implement in practice, however, because of an inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy.

The GOB set up the Business Registration Center in the Cotonou headquarters of the Benin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIB) to facilitate the registration of new businesses. Thanks to this Center, it is possible to register a new company within 2 weeks depending on the type of company. To ease the company start up process, investors are strongly encouraged to hire a local notary for the required assistance. Any American firm establishing an office in Benin should work with an established local partner of solid reputation and retain a competent Beninese attorney. A list of English-speaking lawyers and Notaries public is available from the Embassy's Commercial section.

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Benin Tourism