Under the patronage of His Excellency Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy, the Ministry organized today the first UAE Symposium on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at The Address Downtown Burj Dubai hotel.
Mr Al Mansouri said in his inaugural speech that the symposium sets a new stage for growth of small and medium businesses (SMEs). “Our wise leadership is committed to strengthen the performance of the SMEs, which are a major contributor to the UAE’s GDP. The symposium dedicated for SMEs highlights the directives of the government to develop the performance of the SMEs,” he added.
Mr Al Mansouri said that SMEs contribute by 46 % of the GPD and form around 80% of the total projects worldwide, as per a report of the world Bank. SMEs also encourage innovation and creativity, and attract national labour force and benefits from local resources and attracts foreign investments.
The Ministry of Economy has been asked by the Cabinet to put down a federal policy to support the small and medium businesses, said Mr Al Mansouri. “The Ministry has studied and evaluated the status of SMEs in order to identify the challenges and opportunities in this vital sector. The Ministry also evaluated the experience of 28 countries in the fields of small and medium businesses,” he added.
“We appreciate the support that from the UAE cabinet, Central Bank, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Labour. There are many challenges facing SMEs in the UAE including lack of training, financing, high operation cost, expats labour, absence of marketing network to promote national products and procedural obstacles. We should exert huge efforts to tackle these challenges, by developing SME projects all over the UAE. We will also work to facilitate procedures of registrations and financing and to provide training programmes.”
The first UAE Symposium on Small and Medium Enterprises included three main sessions. The first comprised the opening speeches by His Excellency Mr Al Mansouri, His Excellency Saqr Ghobash, Minister of Labour; and His Excellency Sultan N. Al-Suwaidi, Governor of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates. The second session highlighted the experiences of Germany, Italy and China in the fields of small and medium businesses. The third session featured presentations by various local institutions working in the field of small and medium businesses
