(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency)
Amman, May 23 (Petra)--Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Monday said that dialogue between the public and private sectors is key to achieving comprehensive economic development.
This he added, could be made through enhancing consultation and participatory approach, while adopting policies that aim at improving the business environment and encouraging innovation.
Ensour made the remarks at the opening of a regional conference on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), titled: "Dialogue Between the Private and Pubic Sectors...Empowering Small Enterprises".
He highlighted the importance of the conference which aims to provide the private sector, its various bodies as well as business organizations in the Middle East and North Africa, with the best practices to enable them to facilitate dialogue and institutionalize it in the public sector.
"Small and medium-sized enterprises play a key role in national economy as they have a major contribution to developing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP, and combating poverty and unemployment," Enosur added.
He said that these enterprises provide 50-60 percent of job opportunities at the world level, and contribute to 85 percent of the GDP in many countries.
The prime minister said that the government attaches great importance to SMEs as they account for 96 percent of economic facilities in the Kingdom, noting that the government is also keen to support emerging business projects that are implemented through government institutions.
He also pointed to soft loans offered by the Development and Employment Fund that amounted to JD14 million in the first four months of this year, adding that 2152 projects that created more than 4,000 job opportunities, benefited from these loans.
Ensour also spoke about the challenges facing the national economy due to the current situation in the region, mainly the Syrian crisis and the burden of hosting of 1.3 million Syrian refugees in the Kingdom, who are placing an increasing pressure on the Kingdom's various sectors.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Maha Ali stressed the importance of SMEs in supporting Jordan's economy, adding that economic policies have been adopted to enhance their contribution to the national economy.
The two-day event will shed light on contribution of such ventures in national economies in the Middle East and North Africa.
The conference, which is co-organized by the Jordan Chamber of Industry and the Confederation of Danish Industry, will also explore ways to enhance the business environment to help SMEs flourish and encourage dialogue between the private and public sectors.
23/5/2016 - 02:52:11 PM
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