Under the directive of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda) has set up "AHAN Cell" (Ek Hunar Ek Nager) to promote village level products in the country markets, said Smeda Punjab Chief Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhary.
Talking to Business Recorder here on Monday night, he said under the programme 13 different projects had so far been identified while work was underway for tracing more projects in various parts of the country.
Alamgir Chaudhary pointed out that the concept of this programme was to promote and introduce the village products into the market.
He disclosed that first ever-national policy for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) had been prepared with the active consultation of Chambers and other trade bodies of the country, which would be implemented after approval of the government in near future.
He was confident that the implementation of the SMEs policy would be supportive in resolving the problems confronting by SMEs as well as help enhance the export volume of the country.
The Smeda has also prepared working strategy form mine-to-market for the promotion of "gem and jewellery" sector aimed at bringing big boom in the export of this sector, he disclosed. For this purpose, he said that a comprehensive geological survey would be conducted in Balochistan, NWFP and Northern Areas for identification of new deposits and scientific quantification of existing reservoirs.
Pakistan has been gifted with abundant resources of various precious and semi-precious gemstones and presently it found in Northern Areas and NWFP but with huge future potential in Balochistan.
Alamgir Chaudhary further said the Smeda had suggested the establishment of high-tech jewellery manufacturing and training centres in main industrial hubs for upgrading quality and enhancing the productivity.
The setting up of "gem exchange" is also under consideration and in this regard various models have been studied for setting up the facility in Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta. The estimated cost of per unit is 300,000 dollars including infrastructure and equipment, he said.