IT SAID THE MEETING CAME FORTH WITH THE FOLLOWING MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS:
-- To arrange focused capacity-building and training programme for the SMEs, not only providing them with the relevant knowledge and information such as national and international potential market access, appropriate technologies and use of the ICT etc, but also make them aware of the institutions and service providers.
-- To explore the possibility of developing a collective mechanism between the government and private financial sectors in supporting access of the SMEs to finance on affordable terms.
-- A national committee for the SMEs development, headed by the head of the governments, be set up, and a national SME development policy be formulated backed by necessary legislation for its implementation.
-- The national entities of the OIC member and observer states, such as the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda) of Pakistan, Kosgeb of Turkey and SFD of Egypt should meet periodically under the ICCI auspices with a view to formulating targets for the enhancement of social services in respect of the SMEs.
-- Particular attention should be given to the identification and generation of clusters through technical assistance of Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and other international institutions.
-- Develop and document case studies about the successful experiences of the SME-support programmes undertaken by various authorities in the respective countries such as Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Smeda in Pakistan, Kosgeb in Turkey, OTOP in Thailand and SFD in Egypt. These case studies should be made available to all the OIC member states.
-- Encourage entrepreneurship culture and skills as well as facilitate the use of communication technology.
-- Encourage them to share the best practices in development of the SMEs management.
-- For further development of the SMEs in the OIC member states, network all the technological and innovative, business centres, incubators, etc to share the experience.
-- Study e-portal website for the purpose of facilitating networking among the OIC member states, with links to the websites of various local, national and regional institutions concerned with the support and development of the SMEs.
The Islamic Commission for Economic, Cultural and Social Affairs at its 23rd session, held in January 2000 in Jeddah, endorsed the proposal of the ICCI Secretary General for the establishment of a task force on the SMEs.
The proposal was approved by the Islamic conference of the foreign ministers at its session in Kuala Lumpur in July 2000, subsequently by the Islamic Summit Conference in Doha in November 2000. Accordingly, the task force was established in 2001 by the OIC Secretary General.
The main objectives of the Task Force are to devise strategies for developing support programmes and an institutional framework for creating a favourable socio-economic environment for development and growth of the SMEs in the OIC countries.