Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) has undertaken 19 Public Sector Development Projects worth Rs 2.176 billion across the country, apart from devising sector development strategies and providing Business Development Services to the small and medium enterprises.
SMEDA General Manager Operation and Outreach Syed Iqbal Anwar Kidwai said this while giving a presentation on services, projects and organisational structure of SMEDA to the Federal Secretary Industries Aziz Ahmad Bilour who visited SMEDA head office here on Monday.
General Manager Operations and Outreach Syed Iqbal Anwar Kidwai, General Manager Central Support Muhammad Hashim Tareen, General Manager Policy Planning Bakhtiar Khan and SMEDA Provincial Chief Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry were also present on the occasion.
While quoting a recent report compiled by World Bank, he said that Pakistan is the only country who is spending the lowest budget on SME development. Giving an example, he said Brazil spends $7.24 per capita on its SME as compared to Pakistan who provides just one-cent per capita to SMEDA for the purpose.
Speaking on the occasion, the Federal Secretary said that special initiatives would be taken to expand SMEDA outreach throughout the country for equitable development of SME sector. He assured to extend his support to accelerate the pace of SME development in the country and said the federal government is committed to curb poverty and unemployment in the country, for which growth of small and medium enterprises is essential. He advised the SMEDA management to focus on promotion of value addition and brands development in the SME sector.