More government support sought for SME sector
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The workshop was organized by the Poverty Reduction through Inclusive and Sustainable Markets (PRISM) project funded by EU
The government should put more emphasis on the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) industry as the sector was the foundation for country’s economy, said speakers at a seminar on Saturday.
They said more emphasis on SME industry would create more jobs and help the marginal people of the country.
The seminar was a part of the inaugural session of a workshop titled “The Role of Media in Promoting SME Development and Sustainability” at the office of the Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF) in capital.
The workshop was organized by the Poverty Reduction through Inclusive and Sustainable Markets (PRISM) project funded by EU.
Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman termed SME sector as the foundation of any economy and underscored the need for putting more emphasis on flourishing of the country’s SME sector
Citing some of the success stories of the country’s SMEs like the backward linkage industries to the RMG sector, he said these backward linkage industries directly exported products worth $1 billion to countries like Vietnam, China, Turkey, South Korea.
He also said the country would move further upward in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index by 2021.
Bangladesh has moved up by eight notches to 168th out of 190 countries on the recent Ease of Doing Business Index.
Salman said although there was advancement, the country still lagged behind in the Ease of Doing Business Index and competitive index.
“We’ll definitely improve further as there has been some reforms……we’ll improve in all the indexes in the coming days and we hope to come to the double digit on the ease of doing business index by 2021,” he said while addressing the program as chief guest.
Industries Secretary Md Abdul Halim, Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) Chairman Md Mostaque Hassan and First Secretary, Team Leader, Food Security, Nutrition and Sustainable Development of the Delegation of the EU to Bangladesh Manfred Fernholz spoke at the function.
ERF President Saiful Islam Dilal presided over the session where ERF General Secretary SM Rashedul Islam also spoke.
Industries Secretary Md Abdul Halim said that gazette notification on the new SME policy would be published soon.
He said that the government was thinking to raise the contributions of the industrial sector to 40 percent of GDP by 2030 as well as raising the contribution of the SME sector to the industrial sector to 28 percent.
Manfred Fernholz said that the EU was the largest trade, development and humanitarian partner of Bangladesh, and added, “We’ll continue to support Bangladesh for better trade, boosting human and labour rights and thus contributing to the overall development of Bangladesh.”
Source: https://www.dhakatribune.com
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