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German programme helps develop small, medium enterprises
The Vietnam-German Small and Medium Enterprise Development Programme (SMEDP) has met most of its set targets and the results sustainable, said a German expert.
Speaking at a conference in Hanoi on April 15 to review four years implementing the programme, Axel Mierke, an independent consultant and Guenter Riethmacher, Director of the German Organisation for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), agreed that the success of the programme has also been seen in effective cooperation between local experts and the programme coordinators, as well as the strong commitments of local partners to reform for future development.
The SMEDP, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and implemented by GTZ and the Ministry of Planning and Investment, aims to improve the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam.
The 8.3 million EUR programme has been carried out in four selected provinces of An Giang, Dak Lak, Hung Yen and Quang Nam from May 2005 to April 2009.
It consists of four closely interrelated components, namely applying policies to create favourable business environment for SMEs, developing local economy, developing value chains to improve competitiveness of selected sub-sectors, and applying advanced technical services and materials.
Basing on the Vietnamese Government’s policies on developing the private economic sector, the programme suggested several useful measures to contribute to SMEs development plan. Especially, it helped the four projected provinces to build business web portals and introduced the model in 10 other provinces. It also held over 30 forums on public-private dialogues on the Enterprise Law and the Investment Law.
According to Axel Mierke, many localities have asked for continuation of the programme. However, for higher effectiveness, the expert proposed that the programme should select localities in the same region to allow good cooperation and facilitate the building of a common approach. The private sector should be encouraged to take part in providing services for their faster growth.
In its national socio-economic development strategy, Vietnam always attaches importance to SMEs’ sector role and position. Making up 97 percent of the total number of the country’s enterprises, SMEs make great contributions to GDP and exports. In particular, they provide jobs to over 1 million people a year.
vietnamplus
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