The minister visited the Smeda Head Office here on Saturday, to take a briefing on the present and future projects of the Authority.
A spokesman of the Smeda stated that the minister held three separate meetings on this occasion which were also attended by Smeda's Chief Executive Officer, Shahab Khawaja, Board Member Shahzad Alam and Zahid Aziz, Chief Expert Advisory Cell of the Ministry of Industries and Production.
The series of meetings were started through an introduction with the Experts of Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) working at Smeda on industrial up-gradation of the SME sector. Ms. Soto, a Japanese diplomat who led JICA team, urged the Industries Minister, to appoint a businessman from private sector as In charge of the JICA project so as to achieve the tangible results through smooth operation.
Liaquat Jatoi appreciated JICA for its untiring efforts, to bring the industry in Pakistan at par with the world standards through a low cost technological up-gradation programme. He proposed Shahzad Alam's name to work as In charge of the JICA project. He also invited the JICA team on a dinner at his residence in Islamabad, to acknowledge the excellent work being done by the Japanese experts for industrial development in Pakistan.
Later, the minister met Park Chang Do, an Export Strategy Expert from Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), who has recently been invited by Smeda, to help local SMEs design market strategies on Auto Parts, Fisheries, Horticulture, Marble and Granite.
The minister asked Korean expert to organise a delegation of Korean entrepreneurs dealing in SME sectors like textile, fisheries, marble and granite. He also urged him to help Pakistan having some investment from Korea, besides chalking out export strategies.
In the end, addressing the senior management of Smeda, Jatoi said he would never leave the efforts being made at Smeda for economic uplift of Pakistan in the middle.
He believed that Smeda had now been prepared, to play a significant role in developing SME sector and generating more employment opportunities which will ultimately help curb poverty in the country.