The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) Task Force's fourth meeting on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2005.
Secretary General of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Aqeel A. Al-Jaseem has been invited by the Thai Ministry of Commerce and Thai Islamic Trade and Industrial Association (Titia) to visit Bangkok from September 6 to 9 to discuss the arrangements for holding the meeting, said an ICCI press release issued here.
The event is being jointly organised by the ICCI, Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Department of Export Promotion, Ministry of Commerce, Thailand, and Titia. Aqeel A.Al-Jaseem is a Kuwaiti national and was associated with the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry for 32 years, where he served in different capacities till 1994, when he was appointed the ICCI Secretary General.
The SMEs play a significant role in economic growth, job creation, local development and social cohesion in the economies of the OIC countries. There is a need to underscore the challenges and constraints faced by the SME sector, which is the backbone of private sector.
There is also a need to collectively find out mechanism to promote and strengthen the SMEs in the OIC countries to combat poverty alleviation.
In this context, the OIC Secretary General accepted the ICCI proposal to set up the OIC task force on the SMEs.
The objective is that a member country will be selected each year, where the operations of the SMEs may be assessed so that the requirements of the SMEs in that country may be clearly thrashed out and thereafter the necessary support may be provided to develop them.
Three such meetings of the OIC task force have so far been held. First in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in January 2002, second in Maputo, Mozambique, in May 2003 and the third in Lahore in March 2004, which was jointly organised by the ICCI, IDB, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda) and Ministry of Industries and Production, government of Pakistan.
During his visit, Aqeel A.Al-Jaseem will meet Wan Mohammednoor Matha, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, President Board of Trade, Secretary of Ministry of Industry, Director General of the Department of Export Promotion, Governor of Tourism Authority, Governor of Industry Estate Authority and Board of Directors of the Titia.
Thailand was given an observer status of the OIC in 1998. The Thai Islamic Trade and Industrial has been given the observer membership of the ICCI in 2000. Since then, the ICCI developed an active working relationship to improve and enhance the bilateral ties between Thailand and the OIC countries to achieve the common objectives.
The holding of fourth OIC task force meeting on the SMEs in Bangkok in 2005 would strengthen the partnership of the two institutions and would also help in facilitating increased trade and investment and stronger economic ties for greater integration among Thailand and the OIC countries.