Speakers at a discussion meeting on Wednesday expressed the opinion that Bangladesh can benefit if it can put to use India’s experience in the development of their SMEs (small and mid-size enterprises).
The discussion meeting was held with a delegation from the Confederation of India Industry (CII) and Foundation of MSME Cluster (FMC) India at the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).
For developing cooperation, SME Foundation Managing Director Md Mafizur Rahman called for signing an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) between SME foundation and its counterpart of India, a press release said.
While chairing the meeting, FBCCI President Jashim Uddin said that Bangladesh has huge potential in the cluster-based SME. Both countries can benefit if Bangladesh can harness the Indian experience in flourishing SMEs.
“80 per cent of the businesses operating in Bangladesh are SMEs. Hence, there is no alternative to SME development to keep the economic pace afloat. The banks should come forward to disburse more loans to SMEs,” Jashim added.
The FBCCI president also recommended implementing a “one district, one product” campaign and developing clusters based on raw materials available in the districts.
“Both India and Bangladesh share the common nature of SMEs, market demand, and culture as well. Therefore, India’s experience may appear to be effective to improve the Bangladeshi SME scenario,” FMC India’s Senior Advisor Dr Tamal Sarkar said.
Former general manager of Small Industry Development Bank of India (SIDBL) and FMC India's consultant Surendra Srivastava and CII Director Amit Kumar also spoke at the meeting.
FBCCI Senior Vice President Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu, Vice-Presidents Md Amin Helaly, Md Habib Ullah Dawn, Directors and Secretary General Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque were also present in the meeting.
