March 29, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1428

KARACHI, March 28: The government has constituted a national committee on small and medium enterprises (NCSME) with the objective of implementing, monitoring and evaluating the action plan laid down under the SME policy, approved by the federal cabinet on Jan 17.

The chairman of the committee will be Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives and there will members from different ministries and departments of federal and provincial governments, including State Bank of Pakistan governor.

The CEO of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) will work as secretary of the committee.

The president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and the presidents of Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta chambers will be members from private sector on the NCSME.

Zulfikar Thaver, president, Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame), and Ali A Reza, chairman, Pakistan Association of SMEs, have been included as members to represent the SME sector.

Besides, Zeenat Saeed, Seema Aziz and Shahida Jaffer have been included in the NCSME to represent women entrepreneurs while Dr Nauman Idress Butt and Adeel Rauf will represent the SME industries.

The president of Unisame, Mr Thaver, welcoming the constitution of the NCSME said it would help implement SME policy in letter and spirit and also enable the sector to benefit from measures to be taken by different government ministries and departments for the promotion of SME sector.