Lahore, November 28, 2018 (PPI-OT): The government needs to reduce cost of doing business by also softening the uncertain tax regime and stringent regulatory frame work to allow the huge number of SMEs operating in the informal sector. It was stated by Mr. Suleman Ghani, Senior Policy Advisor, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) while inaugurating the second day proceedings of the 3rd SME Conference organized by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) with the assistance of University of Management and Technology (UMT) at Alahmra Hall.
Mr. Sher Ayub Khan, Chief Executive Officer of SMEDA presented the address of welcome on this occasion. The inaugural session of second day of the SME Conference was also addressed by Mr. Shafiq Anjum, Zonal Chairman and Vice President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and Mr. Mariyan Stoyanov, Chief Director, Directorate of SME Development, Bulgaria.
The Chief Guest Mr. Suleman Ghani pointed out that more than 90 per cent of the enterprises are SMEs. But, as compared to the 3.2 million registered SMEs, a much higher number of SMEs is doing business in the informal sector, which are frightened to get registered because of the uneasy business environment in the country, he said adding that without bringing the informal sector enterprises into the formal sector no economy can flourish. Therefore, he suggested to address this issue on emergent basis and hoped for the better change in this regard, as the incumbent government had included the SME development in its top priority agenda.
Earlier, Mr. Sher Ayub Khan, in his address of welcome, the sector plays a vital role in accelerating economic growth through employment generation and poverty alleviation. Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that SMEs have become a popular topic of academic research. USA, Japan and Malaysia are some examples that promote universities to play an active role in determining policy direction based on concrete evidence, he said and hoped that SMEDA’s initiative to partner with the University of Management Technology (UMT) would pave a way for promoting industry-academia linkages with other national and international universities.
He acknowledged that very useful insights had been gained into the diverse universe of SME sector during the conference, which would be helpful in influencing policy reforms and support the creation of robust and best practice SME ecosystem in Pakistan. Witnessing the great the great interest of stakeholders in the 3rd SME conference, CEO SMEDA announced to hold the 4th SME Conference in March 2019.
Mr. Shafiq Anjum, Zonal Chairman and Vice President of FPCCI expressed satisfaction over SMEDA initiative to launch SME Conference as an annual feature and hoped that the research obtained through the conference would practically be utilized to formulate conducive policies for SMEs.
This is notable that two research tracks and three panel-discussion sessions were held during the first day proceedings on ; “SME Policy Framework”, “Entrepreneurship and Start-up Ecosystem” and “Industry Innovation and Infrastructure”, whereas, the two panel discussions along with a research track sessions on “Opportunities for SMEs” and “Regional Integration” in CPEC” were conducted during today proceedings of the conference.
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