ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday presided over a meeting of the National Coordination Committee for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Islamabad, in which the proposed National SME Policy 2020 was presented to him.
The meeting was attended by the Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar, the Prime Minister’s Adviser for Institutional Reforms Dr. Ishrat Husain, the Federal Secretaries, and other Senior Officials.
The Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr. Reza Baqir and the Provincial Chief Secretaries attended the meeting through video link.
In the meeting, the prime minister was briefed on the features of the National SME Policy 2020.
The prime minister directed the Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar to finalize at the earliest roadmap based on timelines in consultation with provinces regarding the implementation of the proposed SME Policy.
Imran Khan said that the government is committed to provide all possible facilities to SMEs including the provision of credit, easy tax system and facilitation in business.
Reiterating that the provision of job opportunities to the youth and increase in exports are amongst the top priorities of the government, he said that the promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises will play a vital role in achieving targets in these priority areas.
The prime minister said that all the federal government departments and provincial governments should pay special attention on the promotion of the SME Sector in line with the government’s priorities.
Moreover, he said that SMEs had been ignored during the past 10 years which negatively impacted the Country’s economy.