Norway Registers Development AS (NRD) assisting governments and institutions in building vital economy facilitating infrastructure has a new Managing Director – Mr Rimantas Zylius, appointed by NRD Board of Directors on the 30th of December, 2013. NRD previous Managing Director Jon Birger Fjalestad will continue to support the company in global markets, holding a position of NRD AS Director.

Over the past 18 years, NRD, which is a part of BAIP group, has successfully accomplished more than 100 projects in complex political and cultural environments in over 40 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. NRD is a recognised global player in the area business climate improvement reforms, concentrating on creation and development of modern business, mortgage, civil and land register systems.

Former NRD Managing Director Jon Birger Fjalestad will continue to assist NRD in global operations and implementation of complex establishments, while shifting his energy from operations to strategic consultations.

“As a private company, NRD has to win contracts in international competitive bidding. The majority of the projects are funded by multilateral development organizations, like the World Bank and the United Nations, whose ambitions are to reduce countries’ dependency on development aid. With his background as a former Minister of Economy, Mr Zylius is in an excellent position to further develop NRD as an instrument to achieve this goal through projects facilitating good governance and stimulating economic growth,” said Mr Fjalestad. “Mr Zylius has a holistic approach and is focused on achieving results, so I am confident that he is the right person to be in charge of the company”.

Mr Zylius, commenting on his appointment, said that NRD will expand its portfolio with building blocks for a comprehensive and sustainable business environment: tax collection with eFilling systems, transformation of business inspections, simplifications of business regulations, modernisation of public procurement and judiciary systems, as well as reforms of state owned enterprises and creation of a secure digital environment so that economic advancement is not slowed down by cyber security risks.

“Governments in developing countries are willing to engage in broader modernization efforts, without being limited to “starting a business” field. They want to see fast progress in building vibrant business environments and visible results at the level of economy. To respond to this demand, NRD is expanding its portfolio of services. In order to keep up with fast pace of change, NRD is making an effort to be closer to the customers, build relationships with local partners and rely on local resources. For this reason, NRD will continue to invest in East Africa and South East Asia, establish local companies, concentrate its efforts on partnerships with local organisations and academia, and support new businesses in the region by connecting the know-how and R&D of modern economies and developing countries,” commented Mr Zylius.

NRD AS has a local branch in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – Norway Registers Development East Africa Ltd – as well as three excellence centres in Lithuania: ”NRD” for information system design and development, BAIP for critical IT infrastructure and NRD CS for cyber defence.

In 2013, NRD AS and Uganda Management and Technology University signed a memorandum of understanding to pool efforts together to build impact assessment capacities in Uganda. Furthermore, NRD is cooperating with ISACA Tanzania Chapter in the development and implementation of consultative Tanzanian National Cyber Security Framework.