Govt to set up SME advisory centres in all dists, upazilas: PM

The government will establish SME advisory centres in all districts and Upazillas to provide one-stop service to the entrepreneurs, report agencies.

This was disclosed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wednesday in a written speech while inaugurating the five-day 6th National SME Fair at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city.

The Prime Minister due to her illness could not deliver her oral speech. Instead, written copies of her speech were distributed among the audiences.

"Entrepreneurs will be able to avail supports for starting a new business, expansion of existing ones, management and technical training, consultancy services from these centres," she said.

The Prime Minister said SME advisory centres will act as one-stop service centres for the country's small and medium entrepreneurs.

Display and sale centres of SMES will be established in every divisional city for displaying and selling of the products of successful entrepreneurs, she added.

The Prime Minister said 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.

Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) Foundation and Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) jointly arranged the fair.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of improving product quality and adopting newer technologies to thrive in the open-market economic system.

She said new markets have to be explored around the world and products have to be made in line with their demand.

"We need to reduce our export dependency and diversify our export portfolios."

Hasina said Bangladesh is now the 44th biggest economy in the world. "At present, our per capita income is USD 1752. The amount of foreign exchange reserves has crossed US$ 33 billion. The GDP growth increased to 7.65 per cent."

She said Bangladesh is now exporting 750 products to 199 countries and the export target has been set at US$ 41 billion for the current fiscal year. "The export earnings will reach US$ 60 billion by 2021."

The Prime Minister said the government is helping brand the SME products and will continue to do so in the future.

In Bangladesh, nearly 90 per cent of the industries fall under the small and medium category and the contribution of SMEs to the GDP is almost 25 per cent, she said, expressing the hope that the SME Fair will play an important role in promoting products alongside attracting buyers and expanding market.

The Prime Minister said entrepreneurs have to set up small and medium industries regionally based on the geographical availability of raw materials.

"The government will provide necessary incentives and policy support to the entrepreneurs."