Praneeta Prakash 
The Ministry of Trade is focused on growing the micro, small and medium enterprises and co-operative sector as they form a crucial part of the economy.
Permanent Secretary Shaheen Ali highlighted this as the Ministry prepares to host a Market Day to celebrate World MSME and International Co-operatives Day in Ba this Saturday.
Ali says not only does the sector provides employment, it also contributes around 20 percent to Fiji’s Gross Domestic Product.
He adds that MSME’s are in a position that can adapt to new ways of doing business and bring growth to Fiji.
“Similarly MSMEs by nature are very flexible and they need the necessary support, no doubt about it. They need support from financial institutions from government, from non-government stakeholders, but they are flexible. They are innovative, they can employ new technologies, and they can even leap frog technology so they don’t need to go to the next level, but they can sort of pick the best practices that is happening around the world and employ them.”
The Market Day will be celebrated at the Multipurpose Bure in Ba from 9am today.
Around 100 MSME are expected to be part of the event who will display their products.
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