Nigeria, Pakistan To Sign MoU On SMEs

VENTURES AFRICA – Nigeria and Pakistan are set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the areas of cluster development and capacity building for SMEs; as disclosed by the Pakistani High Commission in Nigeria on Thursday, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) will sign on behalf of Nigeria while the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) of Pakistan.

According to the Acting High Commissioner, Ahmed Ali Sirohey, the MoU is as a result of the recently concluded D-8 Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Working Group meeting held in Abuja, the objective of which was to diversify and create new trade relations opportunities.

With the signing of the MoU, SMEDAN and SMEDA will be able to cross-fertilize and create interfaces that will benefit SMEs in Nigeria and Pakistan.

In response, the Director-General, SMEDAN, thanked the government of Pakistan saying “[it] had lived up to expectation in the area of developing its country’s SME sector, and Nigeria has a lot to learn from the Pakistan experience”.

The DG also described Pakistan’s presentation at the D-8 event as an eye-opener to Nigeria and he highlighted the various achievements of SMEDAN notably the successful final ratification of the SME policy that would soon be sent to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval.

Other achievements include successful initiation of the One Local Government, One Product (OLOP) programme across the country – a programme that was adapted from the Japanese Model; establishment of Rural Women Entrepreneurship Development Programme (RUWEDEP), and production of a comprehensive database of SMEs in Nigeria.