National SME Fair 2021 begins today

The National SME Fair 2021 begins in Dhaka today to promote small and medium enterprises hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to open virtually the eight-day long small and medium enterprise (SME) expo at Bangabandhu International Convention Centre.

The SME foundation is organising the annual event after a break of 19-month and for the first time, 10 banks, financial institutes and Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) will participate in the fair to be held from December 5 to 13.

President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday issued separate messages emphasising on boosting of the small and medium enterprise sector for accelerating economic progress in the country.

   In his message, the President said, “The importance of the SME sector in building a developed and prosperous country and as a driving force of the economy is immense. Many countries have emerged as industrialized nations through developing their SME sector and achieved success in economic development, he added.

   “The present government has set target to build a developed country by 2041 through expanding business-trade and investment. To achieve this target, huge workforces will have to be involved in productive oriented sectors and build labour-intensive SMEs,” said the President.

  He said goods produced in SME sector are being exported after meeting domestic demand. He suggested improving the quality of SME products and exploring new markets for the products to face successfully the global competition.

  “There is huge potentiality of SME industry in Bangladesh and I hope the SME fair will play important role in exploiting this potentiality,” said the president.

 Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in her message said as a labour-intensive sector, investment of small-scale capital in this sector creates huge jobs that actually can make important contribution in ensuring an equal social development.