INDIA FOCUSSING
ON INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN SMEs SECTOR
Small and Medium
Enterprises (SMEs) have to look beyond national frontiers, especially
in this era of WTO and globalisation. This was stated by the Minister
for Small Scale Industries, Smt. Vasundhara Raje while addressing
a seminar on SMEs in Cairo, Egypt today. She said that India is
focusing on international co-operation in the SMEs sector. There
is a lot of advantage of globalisation and greatest beneficent
of globalisation are the long-suffering consumers. The globalisation
expands the range of choice, improves product quality and exerts
downward pressure on prices. It delivers immediate gain to workers
by raising the real value of their wages and gives producers access
to better raw material, she said. She pointed out that globalisation
can be seen most clearly in the quickening pace and scope of international
commerce. Global exports as a share of global domestic product
have increased from 14 per cent in 1970 to 24 per cent today.
The Minister said
that SMEs constitute an important sector of the economies all
over the world. They constitute 95 per cent of the enterprises
world-wide. They account for one half to tow-third of the GDP
and non-farm employment. In India like Egypt, 3.3 million small
industries produce goods worth US $ 115 billion per year, sustaining
over 18 million families. SME’s are becoming the focus of attention
of Governments all over the globe including India and Egypt.
Smt. Raje further
said that trade between India and Egypt has been on an upswing.
There is considerable interest among Indian businessmen to increase
co-operation with Egypt. India has a strong small industries sector,
particularly strong in textiles and garments, auto components,
leather, food processing, light engineering and pharmaceutical,
she said.
The Minister is on
a four-day official visit to Egypt. During her visit, the she
will hold a series of meetings on bilateral co-operation in the
field of SMEs with Egyptian businessmen, representatives of Egyptian
Federation of Commerce and other senior Egyptian officials.
