SMIs are on the good way

The sixth Arab Forum for small and medium industries is to be hosted in Tunisia on April 24-26th under the slogan “Small and Medium Industries Locomotive for Employment and Development”, organized by the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank and the Tunisia's Agency for the Promotion of Industry and Innovation (APII).

  Mr. Mohamed Ben Youssef, the general director of AIDMO stated that this forum seeks to put forth visions and ideas and exchange experiences in order to promote the sector of small and medium industries in Arab countries seeing its active contribution to the economic and social development in the Arab world.

Mr. Ben Youssef pointed out that AIDMO devotes great attention to SMIs in their programs because it contributes significantly to reducing poverty and increase women empowerment, eradication of the unemployment of Arab youth and the realization of economic development. He also said that this important industrial sector will possibly contribute to the development of rural communities and remote regions to eradication of the migration phenomenon from the countryside to the cities, and thus; achieving a social justice which is one of the most important claims of Arab springs.

The Arab sixth forum for SMIs will tackle five main axes on the role of this sector in generating job opportunities for youth, women, and its consequence in bridging the gap between education outputs and labor market requirements, pointing out that these industries meet the basic needs of citizens.

 The Forum also addresses the Arab and international programs on the support of small and medium industries in the Arab region as well as the importance of rehabilitating and modernizing such industries, and upgrading their competitiveness.

AIDMO’s representative pointed out that the Forum will deal with the issue of green industries and opportunities for the development of SMEs in the Arab region, adding that many countries in the world are seeking to implement green industries to avoid the industrial growth’s effects on environment.

 The Forum in fact will be attended by a number of Arab and international officials and experts working in the field of SMEs development, and from public and private sectors and a number of Arab regional finance institutions as well as related international and regional organizations.

 AIDMO has recently devoted great attention to the  development of SMIs sector as part of its various activities, including industrial incubators, developing programs on subcontracting, including the concepts of establishing micro-enterprises in the curriculum of education, traditional industries, green industries, and cleaner production programs, in addition to the cooperation of AIDMO and UNIDO on the program of developing the role of small and medium industries in the Arab countries under the implementation of the resolutions of the Kuwait Economic Summit.

We hope that the sixth Arab Forum for SMIs in Tunisia will result in recommendations that serve the development and growth of this sector, which has become compulsory in the current circumstances that the Arab region undergoes.

Posted in: All econimics