[20/October/2007]

SANA'A, (Saba) - The Ministry of Industry and Trade, in collaboration with the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) and with the Islamic Development Bank's
support, would organize the fourth Arab conference on small and medium industries to be convened in Sana'a on November 25-26, Industry and Trade Minister Yahya al-Mutawakil said on Saturday.

Al-Mutawakil mentioned that the conference would be participated by concerned ministries and bodies in the Arab states and institutions interested in developing such industries in addition to some foreign high-experienced foundations in this field.

The conference would identify impediments that obstruct establishing small and medium industries and how to solve them, introduce the ideal means of applying prevalent methods to develop such
industries, bring out the opportunities of marketing their products at the local and regional levels, the minister said.

Furthermore, it will deal with concepts and classifications prevailing in Arab countries of small and medium industries as well as study the characteristics of these industries in domains of production, marketing and finance, reviewing international models to gain advantages from.

Al-Mutawakil said that the conference would focus on activating the role of the public and private sectors to improve the performance of small and medium industries in addition to finding out an integral financial system to fund all fields of these industries, pointing out that it would also focus on the role of such industries in achieving economic development, creating new job opportunities and
raising incomes.

Small and medium industries are the best solution to reduce unemployment and poverty which affect the country's economic growth negatively, al-Mutawakil said, asserting the government's readiness
to overcome all the obstructions that hinder enhancing this kind of industries in the country.

FR/AF

Saba