LAHORE – The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA) sit together with auto parts manufacturers to discuss challenges, opportunities, and roadmap for empowering the SME sector.
The stakeholders formulated recommendations aimed at building a more resilient, and competitive industrial landscape.
The participants recommended developing a unified federal/provincial digital portal where all government departments can issue payable challans. This would reduce manual processing, minimize corruption, and ease the tax compliance burden for SMEs.
They proposed dedicated SME banking products including long-term loans at low interest rates and debt relief and restructuring.
They urged the government to reserve a fixed share of public procurement for SMEs, incentives for SMEs who bring their suppliers into the formal sector, dedicated SME cluster zones and setting up an SME Council.
Mrs Nadia Jahangir Seth, GM of Policy & Planning (SMEDA), and Sheharyar Tahir, Head of External Relations said that supporting enterprises in their transition from informality is vital for inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Formal enterprises benefit from better access to finance, government support, and international markets, enabling them to grow sustainably while creating decent jobs and protecting workers’ rights.
Mashood Khan, TWG member and representative of the auto sector urged replicating successful SME case studies. He said that local role models from the auto parts manufacturing sector can help guide the transition for other informal businesses.
Naeem Ansari, National Project Coordinator for the SME Formalization Project at ILO, suggested continuous dialogue and collaboration among key stakeholders including workers. He also suggested regular brainstorming sessions with stakeholders and skilled labour to refine the national roadmap.
He said the ILO desired measures to boost productivity, improve working conditions, promote social dialogue and make SMEs more competitive & better compliant. He said that formalization is a must for achieving long-term economic growth.
