LAHORE: (APP) The Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) president Sunday has called for introducing new SME policy to enable the business community to redesign the entrepreneurship in line with the world market.
PCJCCI President Shah Faisal Afridi said here that brands emerge from the domestic markets, therefore domestic markets must be redesigned in a way that they become landmark for local brands in international markets.
He said it would help meet the challenges to be faced in the export promotion moves. He said that a fresh and progressive SME Policy was need of the hour to equip the SME sector with new technology, innovation and e-services for developing brand-based trade and industry in the domestic market.
He pointed out that the first-ever SME Policy was announced by the government in 2007, but it has not been implemented successfully. The incumbent government, being a business-oriented setup, should take lead to develop a fresh SME Policy by taking all stakeholders on-board through SMEDA.
He suggested designing a new SME policy which should focus on export development in the changing trends of the international marketing of SMEs.
He said that it is high time that "we maintain an open international stance to integrate our economy into the global economy, and for this we must develop markets at home, called domestic markets or domestic commerce."
"What we import and what we export is a product of these domestic markets; efficient and well-developed domestic markets promote local economy as well as the international trade," he added.
Afridi said: "If we are able to develop these domestic markets, we will be able to develop brand names for high margin exports." He said that Pakistan needs to develop new approaches to strengthen domestic markets.
He suggested that the public and private sectors should follow a vibrant vision of transforming Pakistani cities into a dynamic commercial hub of the region-a tourist destination, a shopping centre, regional headquarters for Multinational Corporation etc.