SMEs development coordination meeting held

The Centre for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Development held a coordination meeting on the development of SMEs on 17 December. The meeting was attended by Union Minister for Industry Dr Charlie Than, Deputy Minister U Ko Ko Lwin, Central Committee Member U Khin Maung Kyaw, officials from the UMFCCI, those involved in the development of small and medium enterprises and officials from the Ministry of Industry.
Vice-Chairman of the SME Development Committee Union Minister Dr Charlie Than said that the world is facing many economic, social and health problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and many countries are trying to find a solution on how to overcome them individually or collectively.
He said the State Government is implementing the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan (CERP) in a timely manner, adding the Working Committee for Remedial Works on Economic Impacts of COVID-19 has disbursed low-interest COVID-19 loans to 6,333 businesses that may have been affected by the economic impact of COVID-19.
He called on the participants of the meeting to openly discuss the process to be followed based on their previous experience in order to achieve effective results in a short period of time with practical steps for the development of SME businesses.
The Deputy Minister for Industry and the Director-General for Industrial Supervision and Inspection explained the SMEs development activities, the reorganization of support groups for the development of SMEs: Fund Management Group, Business Review and Coordination Implementation Group and agencies, future plans for the development of SMEs. Those involved in the SME development processes discussed the measures to be taken for the development of SMEs and the Union Minister made concluding remarks.
In the evening, the Union minister met Chief Minister U Tin Maung Win of the Ayeyawady Region government and ministers of the regional government and discussed the status of the operation, raw material requirements and current situation of human resource development of the industries and the Departments of the Ministry of Industry in Ayeyawady Region. The chief minister said he will exert utmost efforts to provide assistance in the resumption of the industrial operations.
The Union minister and Ayeyawady Region Economic Minister U Tin Aye arrived at the Glass Production Division (Pathein), inspected the production process inside the factory and instructed points of requirement. — MNA