FAISALABAD: SME (Small & Medium Enterprises) sector should enhance its productive as well as professional skills on modern scientific lines to fully capitalize the opportunities brewing because of the construction of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and in this connection, Small & Medium Entrepreneurs Development Authority (SMEDA) is prepared to provide necessary training and allied facilities to this sector, said Raja Hasnan Javed, Provincial Chief SMEDA.
In a meeting with Chaudhary Muhammad Nawaz, President, Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) in his office here today, he mentioned the unlimited opportunities waiting for the Pakistani business community and said that at the moment the total export cargo of China is 10 billion tons. If only 10 percent of it was diverted to the CPEC, it will need 50-60 thousand trucks of 75 MT each for its transportation. Moreover, a long chain of repair and maintenance will also be required in addition to 3 lack drivers and helpers.
He said that the CPEC is a major opportunity and we must prepare ourselves to get maximum benefit out of it. He also underlined the importance of SME sector in national economy and said that Pun jab Government has made elaborate arrangements to facilitate the SME sector so that it could harvest maximum benefits relating to the CPEC projects.
“A SMEDA facilitation desk at FCCI has already been revived”, he said and added that it has arranged 4-5 training programs during a short span of two months and these programs were attended by 150-200 entrepreneurs. He said that the local SME sector should identify its potentiality and inform SMEDA in case of any discrepancy so that proper feasibility studies of the related fields could be conducted to help them. He further said that the local SME sector could also contact the SMEDA help desk at FCCI to start new business or for the resolution of any existing problem.
Chaudhary Muhammad Nawaz President FCCI said that SME sector is the growth engine of the national economy and our progress and prosperity is entirely dependent on it. He termed CPEC as the game changer for the entire region, adding that Pakistan will be the first beneficiary of it. He said that time has come that investors should retrieve their capital from real state and stock exchange and invest it in SME sector, to earn maximum profit in the coming years. He also mentioned his recent visit to China along with CM Punjab and told that the local industrialists had signed agreements to launch joint ventures with Chinese investors under which China will provide latest manufacturing technology while the local industry will manufacture chain, bearing and clutch wires etc for the auto industry. He said that after the manufacturing of these parts, Chinese automobiles could be assembled in Pakistan.
Muhammad Bilal Afzal Regional Business Coordinator, Haji Muhammad Shafi Acting Vice President FCCI, Chaudhary Muhammad Asghar, Chaudhary Muhammad Boota, Mumtaz Bajwa, Haji Talib Hussain, Rashid Munir along with others were also present in this meeting.
