Vice Chairman of State Administration Council Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win addresses Meeting (1/2023) of Work Committee for Development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
NAY PYI TAW June 8
Meeting (1/2023) of the Work Committee for Development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise was held at the Ministry of Industry in Nay Pyi Taw this afternoon and Chairman of the Work Committee for Development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Vice Chairman of the State Administration Council Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win delivered an address at the meeting.
Also present at the meeting were union ministers U Win Shein, Dr Charlie Than, U Hla Moe, U Aung Naing Oo and Dr Myo Thein Kyaw, the chairman of the Nay Pyi Taw Council, deputy ministers, members of the work committee and officials from business association while chief ministers from states and regions participated in the meeting via video conferencing.
First, the Vice-Senior General delivered an address, saying the meeting of the Central Committee for Development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises was held on 27 May, 2023 and it is necessary for the work committee and agencies from relevant states and regions to hold negotiations to implement the guidances of the Prime Minister at the meeting. The Prime Minister has been visiting states and regions to encourage, make suggestions for and coordinate operations of MSMEs and fulfill the requirements.
There are more than 190 instructions concerning MSMEs given by the Prime Minister and more than 230 reports made by local MSMEs, which cover technologies, finance, markets, worksites, raw materials, machines and other sectors. As for the reports, the work committee has been implementing them in cooperation with state and regional agencies.
The main points of the instructions over MSMEs are to encourage local products, to produce export substitutes and to promote exports. It is impossible for the work committee to ignore the instructions and state and regional agencies are required to implement the three fundamental instructions.
To do so, states and regions are required to increase production based on local raw materials.
Measures must be taken to abide by the guidance of the Prime Minister in accordance with the motto ‘One Region, One Product’. Relevant agencies are required to designate main products and produce them not only for local consumption but also for exports. Based on the three fundamental instructions to encourage local products, substitute imports and promote exports, the work committee and state and regional agencies are required to designate the field of products and carry out necessary tasks. As for the fields of products, foodstuffs including edible oil crops, rice and broken rice, tapioca, rubber, cotton, coffee and tea, forest products, rattan and bamboo, meat and fish and animal feeds and pharmaceutical raw materials must be designated as regional products based on raw materials based on local raw materials. Measures must be taken to hold negotiations with the aim of exporting them. States and regions are required to develop production plans and implement them.
In developing plans, investment and technological assistance will be offered to MSME entrepreneurs in states and regions to manufacture products through cooperative and private systems. In carrying out the tasks, there are challenges, investment flow will be facilitated.
Moreover, the work committee will launch awareness raising campaigns for entrepreneurs.
Similarly, assistance will be offered to entrepreneurs. In terms of distribution information, it is to make arrangements to ensure correct and speedy information for the MSMEs and the people and development of human resources for MSMEs.
It is to consider that there will be no gap between the market and the production process in exporting the products. Besides, the working committee is to help MSMEs’ products acquire overseas markets. All the attendees at the meeting are to work together to achieve development of MSMEs, which is the ambition of the Prime Minister as well as a key sector mainly supporting economic development of the nation. It is to support MSMEs with a long-term promise to boost the nation’s economy and to achieve economic development through manufacturing many products for the nation. As MSMEs still have difficulties in terms of production process with digital technology, promotion of market, distribution of information and transfer of money in trade, it is necessary to find effective and easy ways to deal with them.
Then, Secretary of the Working Committee Deputy Minister U Yin Maung Nyunt reported on work being done according to the decision made at the 1/2022 Meeting and measures being taken by the working committee.
Next, documents to be represented to the working committee were read and submitted by Deputy Minister for Industry U Yin Maung Nyunt, Deputy Ministers for Planning and Finance Daw Than Than Lin and U Maung Maung Win, Deputy Minister for Information U Ye Tint, Chairman of Nay Pyi Taw Council U Tin Oo Lwin, and the Chief Minister of Shan State.
Afterwards, Vice Chairman of the Working Committee Union Minister for Planning and Finance U Win Shein briefed on facts about loans disbursed to MSMEs and relevant rules and regulations.
Afterwards, Vice Chairman of the Working Committee Union Minister for Industry Dr Charlie Than submitted discussions on amending the name of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Law to that of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Law, giving priorities on products to respective regions and states to be able to manufacture export substitute items and value-added products with the use of regional raw materials, and linking cooperative system with wholesale markets through establishing manufacturers cooperative societies, conducting supervision on systematic facts about trademarks of MSME products in accordance with the existing law and protocol, publishing information on regional commodities and export items in state-run media outlets for awareness of MSMEn entrepreneurs, establishing an information mechanism to distribute news on MSME, and facts mentioned in the ASEAN SME Policy Index 2018.
Then, Union Ministers U Hla Moe, U Aung Naing Oo and Dr Myo Thein Kyaw, who are members of the working committee, Chairman of Nay Pyi Taw Council U Tin Oo Lwin, chief ministers of regions and states, deputy ministers and experts of organizations submitted sector-wise measures being taken for development of MSME.
Then, the Director-General of Directorate of Industrial Supervision and Inspection who is the joint-secretary of the working committee presented suggestions on obtaining confirmation on the documents.
The Vice-Senior General made coordination on the reports and suggestions and gave concluding remarks.