Senior Federal Minister Industries and Defence Production, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has vowed to strengthen Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) for rapid development of SMEs in the country. Addressing the 12th meeting of Smeda board of directors at the authority's head office on Saturday, he said that present government is fully convinced on the significant role of SME sector in economic development.
He appreciated the performance of Smeda and assured to extend his support in meeting the needs of the organisation to accelerate the pace of SME development in the country. He said that government of Pakistan is committed to curb poverty and unemployment in the country, for which growth of small and medium enterprises is vital.
No doubt, the services rendered by Smeda during the last decade of its existence have reflected a visible impact on SMEs in Pakistan, he added. The minister, however, advised Smeda to expand operation of PSDP projects in Balochistan and Sindh by setting up more common facility centres there. Moreover, he directed to improve the management system to run common facility centres in a befitting manner.
He also assured to explore multiple avenues for meeting financial needs of Smeda. In this regard, he advised to mobilise international donor agencies more effectively. Earlier, Smeda officials gave a presentation on services, projects and organisational structure of the authority to the board members.
They informed that Smeda has undertaken about 17 Public Sector Development Projects worth Rs 1.173 billion across the country, apart from devising sector development strategies and providing Business Development Services to the SMEs. Agha Nadeem, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Industries, Shafqut-ur-Rehman Ranjha, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Aftab Ahmad Bhatti, Additional Collector Customs, M. Akram Malik, Former Federal Secretary, Engineer Adeel Rauf, Chief Executive Officer, Khyber Match Factory Zulfiqar Thaver, President, Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame). M. Khurram Khan, General Manager Central Support, Smeda were also present in the meeting.
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