LAHORE: Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) has emphasised upon equitable development of SMEs in rural areas of the country in conjunction with the urban business hubs, following the Chinese pattern of Urban-Rural Coordinated Development.
The PCJCCI suggested studying the Chinese model implemented in the village Pushan of eastern China’s Zegiang province, where the income of rural population has been increased manifold within two years.
PCJCCI President Moazzam Ghurki, addressing the think-tank meeting at PCJCCI Secretariat, said that China had enhanced the prosperity level of villages via coordinated urban and rural development.
PCJCCI president informed that SMEDA had focused in the past on equitable development of SMEs in the country and the best project in this regard was launched as “Aik Hunar, Aik Nagar” (AHAN) project.
Under the AHAN project, rural handicrafts were connected with the fashion designers to add value in the rural hand-made products. The intervention proved to be so successful that a number of the rural handicrafts won a space in the export market, besides gaining business in the national markets.
He lamented that the project could not win the attention of the current government. PCJCCI Senior Vice President Fang Yulong said that common prosperity was an essential requirement of socialism and a key feature of Chinese-style modernisation, as it aims to create a future where prosperity is shared by everyone in the country.
Efforts to achieve the goal include promoting common prosperity among farmers in rural areas, consolidating and expanding achievements in poverty elimination, and advancing rural vitalisation on all fronts, he added.
PCJCCI Vice President Hamza Khalid said that economic development should be the prime agenda of the government, which can only be attended by promoting SMEs in the rural areas at par with the urban business hubs.