Prime Minster Shaukat Aziz has said the Government is working for the development of SME sector by creating a conducive and facilitating environment and improvement of support services to enable the small and medium enterprises to contribute in growth and development of the country.
Chairing a meeting at the Prime Minister's House on Friday to review the performance of Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda) and Aik Hunnar Ak Nagar (AHAN) project, the Prime Minister said AHAN will contribute to alleviate poverty in rural and peri-urban areas of Pakistan by increasing non farm income, jobs creation and diversification of sustainable income earning opportunities particularly for land-less, wage earners and women.
The Prime Minister said SME sector has tremendous potential and Smeda should focus on improving bench marking with developing countries. They should create more awareness about their programmes among various stakeholders and deepen their footprint.
The Prime Minister said to get maximum impact, Smeda should focus on some priority sectors and add value to the goods produced in these sectors. The Prime Minister identified dairy and agro processing, marble and granite, gems and jewellery, furniture, surgical instruments, sports goods, leather, hunting and sporting arms and fisheries as the priority areas where the government's intervention can lead to maximum jobs creation and poverty alleviation.
Commenting on the work done under AHAN, the Prime Minister commended the progress made in various programmes launched under the project.
He asked Ministry of Industries and Special Initiatives to broaden the coverage of the initiatives launched under the project, link the projects to micro finance and skill development programmes. He said more work should be done to improve marketing of the products. Sahab Khawaja, Chief Executive Officer of Smeda, in his presentation said, presently there are 3.17 million SMEs in the country.
He said the contribution of the SMEs to GDP is 30 percent, its share in manufactured exports is 25 percent, and the contribution of the SMEs to industrial employment is 80 percent. He said Smeda is focussing on implementation of SME policy and mechanisms for co-ordination and monitoring, strengthening knowledge base through research, developing a network of market based initiatives and establishment of SME Entrepreneurship Training Institute.
The project director, AHAN, made a presentation about various projects launched under AHAN, in the fields of silverware, textiles, preparations of Rillies, hand-looms products, and camel skin and bones products.
He said a large number of workers have been trained about value addition and innovative improvement in their products. The meeting was attended, among others by Minister for Industries and Special Initiatives, Jehangir Tareen, Minister for States for EAD Hina Rabbani Khar and senior officials.-PR
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