QUETTA: Abdul Aziz Uqaili, Chief Secretary Balochistan chaired SME working group meeting in which Technical Paper on SME strategy was presented by EU funded GRASP Project, according to a statement issued here on Thursday.

The strategy was discussed at the SME Working Group meeting, where the Chief Secretary Balochistan, Abdul Aziz Uqaili, appreciated the Industries and Commerce Department and the European Union-funded and International Trade Centre implemented GRASP project for making progress in developing the SME Competitiveness Strategy for Balochistan, and said that Government of Balochistan is keen, progressive and forthcoming to adopt and implement the strategy. Government will fully support the ongoing process of SME strategy development and will provide resources for its proper implementation.

Secretary Industries and Commerce, Abid Saleem Qureshi, said that the department was developing SME strategy as envisioned in SME policy of the federal government and hoped that once approved and implemented the strategy would contribute to help develop SMEs and the private sector in the province.

Jahanzeb Khan, Provincial Lead ITC GRASP Balochistan stated that adopting the cluster approach would help in efficiently allocating the already scarce resources for the targeted sectors. Having a realistic and implementable SME Competitiveness Strategy will provide Balochistan with an actionable roadmap to boost SME’s performance for economic and social prosperity. It will contribute to building a conducive business environment for SMEs that can increase the trade performance of the province and make it more attractive for investment.

Technical support for the elaboration of the strategy is supported by the “Growth for Rural Advancement and Sustainable Progress (GRASP)” project, funded by the European Union, and implemented by the International Trade Centre. The project is working to uplift the business environment around SMEs and assisting the government in updating and formulating relevant policies in Pakistan.