by Cheng Xizhong

 

On October 21, Mr. Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar, Pakistani Federal Minister for Industries and Production, said that the Pakistani government would formulate Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) policies in accordance with Prime Minister Imran Khan's vision to promote cross-sectoral small and medium industries to generate employment and enhance capacity of export-oriented enterprises of the country.

 

Accordingly, the Pakistani government will formulate national SME policies with a detailed action plan to augment growth of SMEs across the country, ease credit facilities and services for SMEs and a set of simplified laws will be promulgated in order to encourage SMEs' participation in public procurements.

The Pakistani government attaches great importance to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. I believe it is a correct decision. In this regard, I have the following views to share with my Pakistani friends:

 

First, the prosperity of market economy comes from fair competition. With the development of modern economy, on the one hand, there is a trend of centralization, and on the other hand, a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises are emerging. These two forces, two trends and the dual structure in the market economy constitute the basic forces to promote the prosperity and growth of the national economy.

 

Second, due to the large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, which are distributed in various fields of the national economy, they are increasingly becoming an important factor of economic growth.

 

Third, small and medium-sized enterprises mainly exist and develop in labor-intensive industries, with less investment, flexible operation mode and low technical requirements for labor force. They are the main channel for the reemployment of the unemployed and the employment of new labor force, and play a stabilizing role in social development.

 

Fourth, small and medium-sized enterprises are not only an important source of technological innovation, but also have a higher efficiency of innovation because of their flexible operating mechanism, keen response to emerging markets and convenient technology renewal and product adjustment. The time for transforming science and technology into real productivity is also greatly shortened. Therefore, they play an important role in creating new technologies and developing new products.

 

Fifth, people who run small and medium-sized enterprises often play multiple roles. They are not only the decision-makers and managers, but also the participants in product research, development and production. Therefore, small and medium-sized enterprises are the cradle of cultivating entrepreneurs.

 

I still remember that in 2019, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan met with an investment delegation composed of more than 100 Chinese enterprises in Lahore. Prime Minister Imran Khan warmly welcomed Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises to invest in Pakistan, and said that the Pakistani government was committed to simplifying the registration process of foreign investment and improving the investment environment, and hoped that Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises would contribute to increasing employment and poverty reduction in Pakistan.

 

In recent years, more and more Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises have invested in Pakistan and cooperated with Pakistani small and medium-sized enterprises, creating a large number of employment opportunities for Pakistan and making more and more contributions to Pakistan's tax revenue.