Delegation from Mozambique Calls on Shri Virbbhadra Singh

A delegation led by Mr. Zeferino Alexandre Martins, Minister of Education, Government of Republic of Mozambique called on Shri Virbhadra Singh, Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) here today. The Mozambican delegation comprised of technical and educational organizations Welcoming the visiting dignitaries, Shri Virbhadra Singh assured full co-operation for the development of MSME sector in both countries. He said that MSME is one of the most important sector contributing to Indian economy. It is because of this that Government has established an exclusive Ministry for overseeing the development of this sector. Minister for MSME emphasized that sharing of best experiences between the two countries should be the first step. He stated that the MSME sector in India contribute to about 45% of the total manufactured output and nearly 40% of India’s exports. There are approximately 26 million MSMEs in our country providing employment to about 60 million persons. He further informed that Government of India is having very good infrastructure for providing entrepreneurship development training and offered to provide tailor-made programmes for the people of Mozambique, if they so desired. He informed that M/o MSME has already signed an MoU with Mozambican Ministry of Industry and Commerce. In this regard, he also informed that the 1st Joint Committee meeting is going to be held at Maputo at the end of the September, 2011. Shri Virabhadra Singh also informed the delegation regarding the value addition in the Khadi and Village Industries Sector by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) of the Ministry.

Mr. Zeferino Alexandre Martins, thanked Shri Virabhadra Singh and mentioned that there are enormous opportunities in the field of Small and Medium Enterprises for mutual benefits of both the countries. MSME is priority sector for them and they have plenty of land and resources available with them. He expressed his desire to collaborate with Indian MSME sector in view of the tremendous work done by India in this sector. He further stated that they are very keen to learn from Indian experiences in the area of entrepreneurship and vocational training.

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