The contribution of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to a nation's economy will be the focus of a conference to be held in Abu Dhabi in October.

Entrepreneurs, banking personnel, government bodies and associations will discuss and understand the aspects of SME initiatives, economical and financial role in SME growth and entrepreneurship perspective in the Middle East at the 4th Middle East SME Forum, to be held on October 1 and 2.

SMEs account for about 70 per cent of any country’s economic growth and are regarded as an economy’s engine for growth and employment, said a statement.

SME contribution to economic growth includes creating employment opportunities, bringing innovative product and services to the market, and increasing effectiveness and efficiency, it said.

Over the past few years, countries in region have been aiming to build a stable and sustainable economy through the diversification and expansion of its enterprise base across a range of different sectors, thus improving the competitiveness of the region's private sector.

One of the objectives of this vision is to enlarge the SME-base, which will provide opportunities for locals, motivate innovation in higher value-added sectors, and lower the risk to the economy pertaining to larger enterprises, said the statment.

SMEs would benefit from financial and technical support, besides a favourable legal structure, prevention of entry barriers into some economic sectors and market-based competition mechanism, it said.

The vision seeks to help improve the product or service the company offers so that it can be more competitive and grow. The search for improvement leads to more effective and efficient ways of operating that lower costs, increases productivity, and increase profits, in turn allowing resources to be directed to other innovative products and services, it added. - TradeArabia News Service