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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has placed a five-point proposal for further development of the country’s potential small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.
She placed the proposal while inaugurating the ‘8th National SME Product Fair 2020’ in Dhaka on Wednesday.
“Many of our SME products are world standard and they’re also associated with our cultural heritage. So, we’ll have to undertake some measures for developing the SME sector further,” she said.
Prime Minister said this at the opening ceremony of the nine-day fair at the Krishibid Institution, Bangladesh (KIB) Auditorium at Farmgate area in the area in the morning, reports BSS.
In her first proposal, the premier said the entrepreneurs will have to concentrate more on producing hundred per cent export-oriented high-end demanding goods side by side our heritage products.
Sheikh Hasina said secondly, the entrepreneurs will have to manufacture complementary goods to the heavy industries by the SMEs and thirdly, flourish the Blue Economy through SMEs.
Fourthly, they (entrepreneurs) will have to focus more on turning Bangladesh into a partner of ‘Global Value Chain’ using a low cost of production in combination with modern technology, she said.
Fifthly, the country’s scientists and researchers will have to give more attention towards coordination/hybridisation of three innovative sectors — digital, biological and physical — so that Bangladesh can keep pace with fourth industrial revolution (4IR), she added.
Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun presided over the function, while Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Industries Ministry Amir Hossain Amu was present as the special guest.
Industries Secretary Md Abdul Halim and SME Foundation Managing Director Md. Safiqul Islam also spoke at the function and State Minister for Industries Kamal Ahmed Mojumder was present on the dais.
SME Foundation is organising the fair at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the capital.
At the function, the prime minister handed over the “National SME Entrepreneurs Award-2020” among two female and three male entrepreneurs. Each winner received Tk 100,000, a trophy and a certificate.
A total of 296 SME entrepreneurs, including 195 women, will display their products, including jute, agriculture and leather goods, electrics and electrical items, light engineering products, handicrafts and plastic and synthetics items in the fair, Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun told a press conference on Monday.
No foreign products will be allowed in the fair, he added.
Five seminars on the promotion of SME entrepreneurs and SME products will be organised during the fair.
The titles of the seminars at the fair are ‘Light Engineering Product Year 2020’, ‘Participation of SME Women Entrepreneurs in Export: Challenges and Potentialities’, ‘Role of SMEs in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in Bangladesh,’ ‘Expansion of SME Product Marketing through Using Online Platform,’ and ‘Digital Finance for SMEs’.
The fair will remain open from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm for visitors and there will be no entry fee.