LAHORE:Ministry of Industries and Production (MOIP) would extend its full support to Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) in having the required facilities and incentives for ease of doing business in SME sector.
It was assured by Momin Agha, Additional Secretary (In Charge) MOIP, in a meeting held with CEO SMEDA Farhan Aziz Khawaja here at SMEDA head office on Wednesday. The meeting was also attended by members of the senior management team of SMEDA.
Agha said, “In the current economic scenario, we should focus our efforts to provide SMEs with a conducive policy environment based on the reduced regulatory restrictions and the lowest taxation burden, as recommended in the SME-Policy-2021.” In this regard, he added that the coordination with all related government agencies including FBR (Federal Board of Revenue) and the SBP (State Bank of Pakistan) would be enhanced.
The Additional Secretary also advised SMEDA to develop scope of project financing to attract the international development agencies’ cooperation, focusing on the global interests like climate change and women entrepreneurship development.
Earlier, Farhan Aziz Khawaja highlighted the problems to be faced by SMEDA in achieving the set goals of SME development. He said that the enhanced coordination of FBR, SBP and the provincial regulatory authorities under patronage of MOIP would help SMEDA to promote ease of doing business in SME sector of Pakistan.
He acknowledged that FBR was already cooperating with the SMEDA certified SMEs in having tax relief under SME Policy. He thanked Momin Agha for assuring the support of MOIP and also enhancing coordination with other authorities to implement SME development initiatives of SMEDA.
On this occasion, a detailed presentation on SMEDA projects and services was also given to the Additional Secretary, in which history of SMEDA efforts for SME development since 1998 to date was revealed.
The presentation also highlighted entrance of SMEDA into PSDP projects in 2006 and informed that SMEDA had conducted 35 PSDP projects worth Rs.6.946 billion as common facility centers during last 15 years in export-led and employments generating sectors of SME.