EDI to set up busines skills centre in Myanmar

Bangkok, Nov 16 (UNI) The Ahmedabad-based Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI) will set up a business skills centre in Myanmar following similar training facilities established in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

The entrepreneurship development centres are being set up in Southeast Asian countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) under direction of the Ministry of External Affairs as part of India's engagement with the region, says EDI Director Dinesh Awasthi.

Business promotion experts, senior government officials, public sector and industry representatives from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are attending a three-day workshop here this week aimed at promoting entrepreneurship in trade integration among the GMS countries.

The workshop titled ''Unleashing Entrepreneurship for Development and Trade for the Greater Mekong Sub-Region'' has been organised by the EDI in partnership with the Thailand-based Mekong Institute and with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

The Vietnam-India, Laos-India and Cambodia-India Entrepreneurship Development Centres set up by the EDI since 2004 are filling a vital gap in the national economic development in the three countries.

Addressing the workshop, Dr Awasthi outlined the handicaps faced by potential entrepreneurs in the countries.

These include inadequate financial, technical and administrative support from the government, lack of specialised financial institutions, low capacity utilisation, high operational costs, inadequate marketing skills and lack of decentralised business decision-making.

For these Southeast Asian countries to catch up with the economically advanced nations in the region, it is necessary that their latent entrepreneurial potential is unleashed, says a meeting document.

The Swiss development agency is sponsoring the workshop under its Global Issues and Sustainable Development Initiative, which is involving leading institutions in the Ganga-Mekong region such as the EDI.

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