The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) has devised a strategy in order to promote Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the province of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) that would be displayed as a Business and Culture Festival to be held by mid-next month.
In this regard, the CEO of SMEDA, Hashim Raza, during his address to a meeting at the head office of SMEDA, stated that the government of Pakistan was dedicated to curtailing poverty and unemployment through the growth of SMEs. Due to this, SMEDA, following the direction of the Federal Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI & P), is giving special attention to the equal growth of SMEs in all regions of the country.
The CEO of SMEDA informed that most of the current SMEs in Gilgit-Baltistan were linked with the tourism sector, dealing in processed food, beverages, transport, handicrafts, hospitality, and other tourism-related services, which required standardized and quality packaging and innovation.
Raza showed confidence that the authoritys involvement in the province would help add value, quality standards, and product development to modern patterns. He added that the existing SME policy had a lot of incentives for SMEs in GB and expected the SMEs business, under the SMEDA strategy, would be able to reach out also to the upper Hunza areas, such as Gojal.
Moreover, the CEO of SMEDA expressed gratitude to the MoI & P for supporting SMEDAs action plan to upgrade the SME sector in Gilgit-Baltistan and stated that the Gilgit-Baltistan Government, Hunza Chamber of Small Traders and Small Industries, Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation, and the Tourism Department of Gilgit-Baltistan were equally associated with SMED in arranging the Business and Cultural Festival of Gilgit-Baltistan which is to be held in the middle of next month.
Further said that the SME policy primarily focuses on helping SMEs gain access to international and local markets, build a strong link with the value chains of large firms and become suppliers to the government.