Unisame dismayed over delay in SME Policy

KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has expressed dismay over the continuous delay in the approval of the SME Policy, a statement said on Saturday.

Unisame president Zulfikar Thaver said that perhaps the real reason is that the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) does not have funds to implement the Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) uplift policy, adding that it is simply gaining time.

This is the second time the committee has delayed approving the policy, even when it spent so much time and money in its making. The SME Policy made by the experts in 2007, was and remains a very good policy covering many aspects of the SME uplift on fast track, he added.

Earlier on Friday, the ECC delayed the approval of the SME Policy put forth by the Unisame, as members of the committee and stakeholders raised objections and suggested a review of the policy.

Thaver said: “We had requested them to revalidate it with modifications but they did not listen and started exercises to make a new policy.”

He said that it has been three years now but the committee has failed to give the underprivileged majority sector a comprehensive policy as pointed out by the stakeholders, noting that it even had support from the USAID.

Thaver expressed his dismay by saying that it seems the will is not there, otherwise it is not that big of a task, adding that it simply needs comprehension of the requirements of the sector.

The Unisame president said that it is indeed sad that the road map given by us is accepted worldwide and appreciated by SME promotion institutions in foreign countries who also adopted it, but unfortunately our own leaders do not appreciate our expertise.

The Unisame Council urged the Prime Minister Imran Khan to take the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) under his direct authority similar to the practice all over the world where the SME promotion and development institutions are directly under the head of state.

This will save time and it will enable the majority sector to benefit from the focused attention of the PM and bring about fast track promotion and development of the underprivileged sector, it added.

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