ISLAMABAD

Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (SMEDA) and Turkish Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency 'KOSGEB' here on Monday signed an memorandum of understanding to promote bilateral cooperation between both the countries for development of the SME sectors.
Chief Executive Officer of SMEDA, Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry and President KOSGEB, Recep Bicer signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.
Minister for Industries and Production, Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi and Ambassador of Turkey to Pakistan Sadik Babur Cirgin also witnessed the MoU signing ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, CEO SMEDA apprised the visiting delegates about the scope of small and medium enterprises development in the country and government policies to promote the sector.
He said Pakistan was rapidly growing economy located at the junction of growing economies adding that government was focusing on micro and small enterprises to curb unemployment and alleviate poverty from the country.
He informed that Ministry of Industries and Production was developing strategies and preparing polices to support and promote the small and medium enterprises.
He said currently total bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Turkey was stood at US$ 322 million exports and US$ 238 million imports and huge scope was existing to manifold the bilateral trade. The SME sector development was vital for industrial development as about 3.2 million SMEs was operating in Pakistan and providing employment for over 26 percent of total local labor force, he added.
He said that SMEDA and KOSGEB have joined hands for mutual benefit by sharing the knowledge, technology transfer and promoting the business activities between both the countries.
He suggested for designing a comprehensive work plane and organizing investment conferences to exploit the opportunities to promote SME sectors of both countries.
Speaking on the occasion, President KOSGEB said that Pakistan's SME sector has huge potential to grow and current MoU would open new vistas of exchanging knowledge and experiences between SMEs of both the countries.
He said small and medium enterprises sector has potential to under take joint ventures with Turkish SEMs in number of industrial and commercial fields to promote the sector.
He said KOSGEB has signed agreements and MoUs with 48 countries of the world including Pakistan to promote cooperation for development of SME sector and it would work with SMEDA for the development of small and medium enterprises.