SMEs 'backbone of industrialisation'

CHITTAGONG, Dec 11: Housing and Public Works Minister Mosharraf Hossain said small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of industrialisation in a country, as they supply basic inputs to the big industries and thus help economy grow.

The government is providing necessary support to the SMEs so that they can flourish to an expected level to help speed up the industrialisation, he added.

The minister spoke while inaugurating the Second International SME Fair at the World Trade Centre in the city, organised by the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Sunday. CCCI president Mahbubul Alam presided over the event. The three-day fair began on Saturday.

Mosharraf Hossain said organising such SME fairs are very encouraging because the fairs demonstrate how the small and medium enterprises would get support from banks and how they would improve quality of their products.

The country's economy will get a boost if the SME sector develops further and the guidelines and principles for promotion of the sector are followed properly, he said.

He said the Chittagong region is advancing economically, albeit in a slow pace. With setting up of the economic and industrial zones at Mirsarai and Anwara and implementation of the Karnaphuli river tunnel in the next few years, Chittagong would become the most ideal investment destination for entrepreneurs and industrialists from home and abroad.

"There are many businesspeople in Chittagong who can bring back its past glory, as once we would say that Khatunganj of Chittagong controls the country's trade and business," he added.

Senior vice-president of the CCCI Nurun Newaz Selim, vice-president Syed Jamal Ahmed, Ohid Siraj Chowdhury, MA Motaleb, Mahbubul Huq Chowdhury, Anjan Shekhar Das, Md Abdul Mannan, Mostafa Kamal Chowdhury, Jahirul Islam Chowdhury, honorary consul of Japan Nurul Islam and acting consul general of Russia Vyascheslev Jakharov attended the event.

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