LAHORE
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) and Pak-Saudi Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PSJCCI) inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) Wednesday to facilitate joint ventures between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the potential areas of SME sector. The manuscript of the MoU was signed by Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry, CEO SMEDA, and Mian Mehmoodul Hassan, President PSJCCI, at SMEDA head office.
The signing ceremony was attended by a number of the senior officials from SMEDA and PSJCCI. Under the MoU, both organizations will adopt means and measures to promote Saudi Investments in Pakistan and for this purpose, a joint information dissemination campaign to highlight investment opportunities in Pakistan would be launched. SMEDA will identify potential SMEs for investment in Pakistan, whereas PSJCCI will do the same exercise in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, promotion of exhibitions and seminars & conferences both in Pakistan and in Saudi Arabia has been placed on top agenda of the MoU. But, prior to holding such events access to finance and related services with support of Islamic Development Bank would be explored. However, SMEDA and PSJCCI have pledged to make special efforts to facilitate joint ventures and opportunity identification in milk, poultry, dates and dairy sectors. The MoU also focuses on human resource development to be managed through a demand analysis of requirement and supply arrangement.
Earlier, while addressing the signing ceremony, CEO SMEDA Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry told that there existed bright prospects for joint ventures between Pakistan and Saudi Arab in the fields of Food Processing including milk, poultry, dates and dairy. He said that the creation of PSJCCI was a major breakthrough to explore joint venture opportunities between the two Muslim nations. He hoped that the MOU between SMEDA and PSJCCI would lay down a strong foundation for expansion of trade and investment between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
He assured of the fullest cooperation on behalf of SMEDA to implement the initiatives set in the MOU for promotion of Pak-Saudi business relations.