RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: Punjab Minister Industries, Trade and Investment Sheikh Alauddin has said that SME Development Authority policies based upon research could pave way for economic revolution in Pakistan.

He was speaking to the inaugural session of the 2nd SME International Conference organized by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) in collaboration with University of Management and Technology (UMT).

Federal Secretary Industries and Production Khizar Hayat Gondal, Serdar Demiz, Counsel General of Turkey, Dr Rebecca Fox, Gearge mason University, USA, Dr Hassan Sohaib Murad, Rector, University of Management and Technology (UMT) and SMEDA Chief Executive Officer Sher Ayub Khan also addressed the inaugural session.

The minister admitted that there was dire need of instituting policy reforms based on research, field studies, circumstantial evidence and innovations. The importance of creating a “best practice ecosystem” to foster the establishment and growth of SMEs requires research based policy measures, he said.

He urged the development agencies and government departments to play an instrumental role in materializing and translating these research outcomes into concrete projects.

He acknowledged that SME led economic growth cannot be achieved without developing synergies among all the stakeholders.

He hoped that the conference, in this regard, would prove to be a milestone in SME development as it had brought together the SME Stakeholders on one platform.

He assured of the fullest cooperation of Punjab government to SMEDA for boosting the goal of SME development in Pakistan at par with developed nations.

Federal Secretary Industries and Production, Khizar Hayat Gondal said that SME development was on prime agenda of the present government and SMEDA, as part of the Ministry of Industries & Production had been making efforts for serving as a bridge between the SME sector and the government.

The diverse product and service portfolio of SMEDA is serving the business needs for new enterprise creation and further growth of businesses in the country. But, we can never be able to delve into the deeper depths of SME sector without research, he said. SMEDA Chief Executive Officer Sher Ayub highlighted significance of the research for SME reforms.

He said that SMEDA is striving hard to create a conducive environment for SMEs in the country. Pakistan has also no option other than SME Development to meet the challenge of unemployment and poverty. But the goal had been a dream just for having no accurate data and research, he said adding that an annual feature of SME Conference had been commenced since last year to create a business related research in the higher education institutes, he said.

Counsel General of Turkey Serdar Demiz, while expressing his comments on this occasion congratulated Government of Pakistan for focusing attention on SME development.

He told that the economic progress achieved by Turkey was dependent on the rapid development of SMEs. He hoped that SMEDA’s move to take academia on board for catalyzing SME sector through research would bring positive results in Pakistan.

Dr Rebecca Fox of the George Mason University, USA also termed the research a strong foundation for policy making and observed that without close collaboration of researchers and enterprises no economy can grow on fast track.

She appreciated SMEDA and UMT for approaching international academia to share international research and best practices in the field of SME development.

The inaugural session of the conference was followed by technical sessions on three thematic areas, which include “Developing Conducive Business Environment for SMEs”, Local and International Market Development for SMEs” and Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development.”