ABBOTTABAD, Aug 29: MNA and parliamentary secretary Dr Rozina Tufail has said the Higher Education Commission has launched a campaign to create awareness among people about small and medium entreprises.

Speaking at the concluding session of a workshop on “Unlocking the Opportunities for SME” here on Tuesday, she said the country’s economy could be boosted by encouraging small and medium entrepreneurship.

The workshop was organised by the COMSATS Institute of Information and Technology and sponsored by the HEC and the University-Industry Interaction Project of COMSATS.

Dr Rozina, who is also chairman of the National Committee for Science and Technology, said small and medium enterprises could reduce unemployment and boost the business of small vendors who played a vital role in improving the country’s economy by contributing a major chunk of taxes.

She said the government had announced a policy for SMEs which would bring about lasting results. She said banks and other financial institutions had been asked to provide maximum support to small-scale business concerns.

Abbottabad District Nazim Sardar Haider Zaman stressed the need for providing more business opportunities to people. He called for launching training programmes to polish people’s skills so that they could establish their own businesses.

Earlier, Amjad Fareed, Naveed Ahmed, Dr Qasim Khan, Jamil Anwar, Dr Amir Haider and others spoke at the workshop.