The Mena Centre for Investment has joined hands with Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF) to host a high-powered seminar on role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in job creation in the region.

The seminar will be opened by the Mena Centre for Investment vice-chair Dr Abdulla Al Sadeq and BIBF deputy director Hussain Ismail at the BIBF building in Juffair on Wednesday.

The one-day event will be used to highlight the new attention being paid to the developmental impact of SMEs around the world and especially in the Mena region.

It will bring into focus how the SMEs have emerged as a powerful engine of growth in developing and developed economies by offering sources of employment, being seedbeds of innovation and promoting regional dispersal of skilled people, resources and other factors of production.

The discussions will take a hard look at the numerous obstacles to SME growth and their under-representation in government priorities, policy inconsistencies, infrastructure deficiencies and lack of interest from the financial intermediaries because of skewed risk perception.

BIBF is partnering with the Mena Centre for Investment to provide thought-provoking, policy-oriented discussions targeted towards SME development through innovation and entrepreneurial building initiatives.

'We have entered into a strategic partnership to achieve Bahrain's Economic Vision 2030 and as part of our commitment to serve the financial services sector we are ready to collaborate on such initiatives of national importance,' said BIBF director Garry Muriwai.-TradeArabia News Service