SAPM reviews proposed amendments to SMEDA Ordinance 2002

LAHORE: The 32nd meeting of the Board of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) held under the chairmanship of Haroon Akhtar Khan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Industries and Production, reviewed proposed amendments to the SMEDA Ordinance 2002, the appointment process of the new Chief Executive Officer and the Authority’s SME Formalisation initiative.

The meeting was attended by Saif Anjum, Secretary, Ministry of Industries and Production; Socrat Aman Rana, CEO SMEDA, Masood Akhtar, Chief (Law & Clarification), FBR; Iffat Malik, Joint Secretary (Expenditure), Ministry of Finance; and Muhammad Ashraf, Executive Director General, Ministry of Commerce. Private sector members Aasia Saail Khan, Dr Syed Zahoor Hassan, Mashood Khan and Osman Saifullah Khan also participated.

While addressing the Board, Haroon Akhtar Khan reiterated the Prime Minister’s strong commitment to the rapid development of the SME sector, emphasizing SMEDA’s pivotal role in driving sustainable industrial growth and employment generation. He advised SMEDA to launch a nationwide awareness campaign highlighting the government’s incentives for registered SMEs and urged acceleration of efforts to bring more enterprises into the formal sector through SMEDA’s SME Registration Portal.

The SAPM further underscored the importance of long-term financing for SMEs, informing that it has been made a key component of the forthcoming Industrial Policy. He added that a high-level committee headed by the Federal Minister for Finance has been constituted to promote long-term industrial financing mechanisms.

Socrat Aman Rana, CEO SMEDA, apprised the Board that 13 amendments have been proposed in the SMEDA Ordinance 2002 to streamline inter-ministerial coordination for ensuring swift approvals of SME development incentives required from other divisions. He also briefed the Board on SMEDA’s fruitful participation in the launch of the OIC SME Network (OIC-SMENET) held in Baku, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan’s debut participation at BIOPROM-2025, Russia’s leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical trade fair.

The CEO SMEDA extended his gratitude to the SAPM and Secretary, Ministry of Industries and Production, for their continued guidance and support in enabling SMEDA to strengthen Pakistan’s SME ecosystem and expand international linkages for local enterprises.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025