Seminar on financing and development of small and medium units begins in Oman

Muscat: Discussions on promoting finance institutions that fund small and medium enterprises (SMEs) began at a meeting on Tuesday.
The ‘Financing and Development of Small and Medium Enterprises’ seminar began at Crowne Plaza Muscat Hotel under the auspices of Dr. Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce and Industry.
The three-day seminar is being organised by the Oman Development Bank (ODB), in collaboration with the Association of National Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in Member Countries of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
Sheikh Dr Abdul Aziz bin Mohammed Al Hinai, CEO of ODB stressed, in a speech that the seminar will discuss along with the theme of development finance all topics relevant to the SMEs, adding that the seminar will review the most successful experiences of countries that fall under IDB, as well to the role of development institutions in providing the SMEs with the necessary support and funding.
Datuk Mohd Radzif bin Mohd Yunus Vice-Chairman of ADFIMI (Association of National Development Finance Institutions in Member Countries of The Islamic Development Bank) and Chairman of ADFIM (Association of Development Finance Institutions of Malaysia) said that the ( Financing and Development of Small and Medium Enterprises) seminar aim at promoting finance institutions that fund SMEs and analysis of the challenges facing the financial crisis for those institutions, in addition to the development of policies and exchange of experiences and strategies, especially in Islamic financing.
Khalid Mohammed al-Aboodi, CEO and General Manager of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) gave a lecture on the current situation and future prospects for SMEs in the Middle East, in which he confirmed the absence of sufficient momentum to bring about a shift to SME in the Middle East. The lecturer compares the acquisition of SMEs over nearly 90 percent of the registered EU institutions, compared to no more than about 15 to 30 percent in most of the Arab Gulf States.
More than twenty speakers will address the seminar, reviewing the most important challenges and difficulties faced by SMEs in the Muslim world, as well as to focus on the importance of these institutions in leading the national economies to steady growth, highlighting the models and experiences of support that can be provided for SMEs.
He also reviewed the experiences of a group of countries in the field of private SMEs and their role in achieving the goals of sustainable development and the obstacles that may arise on the development of SMEs from the viewpoint of these projects.