Commonwealth-India programme begins tomorrow

Kochi, Dec 4 (UNI) Nearly 55 delegates from 28 commonwealth countries will participate in the seventh Commonwealth-India Small Business Development Programme, starting from tomorrow here.

The six-day programme, jointly organised by the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat and Coir Board, aims to develop competitiveness of small business activities for Commonwealth developing States using Kerala's socio-economic development model, an official release said here today.

The programme, with the theme 'Resource-based SMEs as a source of Employment Generation and Poverty Alleviation', will focus on issues of sustainable pro-poor growth in the agro and rural sectors.

During the course of this programme, major export orders and collaborative agreements would be finalised between Kerala's coir and agro-processing sectors and other Commonwealth countries, the release added.

The Commonwealth Secretariat in a partnership with the Coir Board gained recognition for the use of Coir as a sustainable natural resource in Commonwealth countries.

The event would be inaugurated by Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi.

UNI