Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the government would establish SME advisory centres in all districts and upazillas, which will act as one-stop centres to provide service to the entrepreneurs.
"Entrepreneurs will be able to avail themselves of the support about starting a new business, expansion of existing ones, management and technical training, and consultancy services from these centres," she said.
Display and sale centres of SMEs would be established in every divisional city for displaying and selling of the products of successful entrepreneurs, Sheikh Hasina added.
She said this all in a written speech distributed among the audience during the inauguration of the National SME Fair-2018 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka. She could not deliver the speech due to her illness.
The Prime Minister, however, distributed awards among the best SME entrepreneurs of the year. She also visited different stalls of the fair.
She said that as a driving force of global economy, SMEs are very important for a developing country like Bangladesh for economic development, industrialisation, generation of employment and poverty eradication.
In Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina said, nearly 90 per cent of the industries fall under the small and medium category. For this reason, SME sector is especially important to achieve the National Development Goals.
According to her, the contribution of the SMEs to Bangladesh's GDP is almost 25 per cent.
SME Foundation and FBCCI jointly organised the fair aimed at promoting marketing and business expansion of the products of the SME sector.
Sheikh Hasina said her government has considered small and medium enterprises as one of the key factors for industrial development.
She said the contribution of industrial sector to the national economy is increasing gradually. More women are starting their own business due to our entrepreneur-friendly policies.
As a result, Bangladesh has raced ahead of its neighbouring countries in terms of poverty alleviation, employment generation, women empowerment, and many other socio-economic indicators, she said.
The country is now exporting 750 products to 199 countries. The export target has been set at 41 billion dollars for the current fiscal year.
She said the export of products has been increased. As a result trade deficit is decreasing. At present, the export income has increased to nearly 35 billion dollars, which will increase up to 60 billion dollars by 2021.
Pointing out her government's plan to establish 100 Economic Zones in the country the Prime Minister said the economic zones would attract local and foreign investment playing an important role in the socio-economic development of the country through industrialisation and employment generation.
Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh has a long glorious tradition of cottage industries. Traditional 'Jamdani Sharees', embroidered Quilt (nakshi katha) and 'Sheetal Pati' of Bangladesh have achieved the honour as World Cultural Heritage of UNESCO.
The Prime Minister urged the entrepreneurs to set up small and medium industries, regionally according to the geographical availability of raw materials, saying the government will provide the necessary incentive and policy support to the entrepreneurs.
She said the government is giving collateral free loan with single digit interest rate for SME entrepreneurs and arranging demand-based training programs as well as other activities for promotion and marketing of products, reports BSS.
She laid importance on scaling up the skills of every person through the development of SMEs similar to Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and China.
Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu presided over the function while president of FBCCI Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, industries secretary Md Abdullah and chairperson of the SME Foundation KM Habibullah also spoke on the occasion.
