Free Services Exhibition in Alexandria

Product Directory Collectively  Designed by Administrative Bodies

The Ministry of Finance launched a new initiative to encourage small-scale producers, micro and small projects owners to participate in public tenders and bids, to increase their share in government procurements to more than 10% of the value of those bids which are publicly financed to the tune of billions of pounds annually.

The initiative, which includes free training of small and micro project owners on tender procedures, comes within the framework of the government's efforts to support micro and small projects to increase their contribution to the growth of local economy. Projects of this type play a key role in the development of many of the world economies, Dr. Ghali observed.

As a part of the initiative, a pilot project was launched to raise the projects share in government purchases in Alexandria, after a similar  project was successfully implemented in the Al-Gharbiyah governorate.

The project is implemented as part of the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ministry of Finance, represented by the General Authority for Government Services which undertakes the technical training, the Governorate of Alexandria and the Business Development Services Support project, funded by the Canadian Agency for International Development, Dr. Ghali explained.

The project focuses on several themes, including the training of government procurement directorates in Alexandria, and increasing their awareness of the importance of the role of micro and small projects in social development, as well as educating project owners on the opportunities available in public tenders. Moreover, it explains in detail the law governing procurement and bidding and the most important ministerial decisions issued in this regard, and provides training on how to proceed with and win available tenders.

A regularly updated database of Alexandria’s micro and small projects and products is currently being built in coordination with the Governorate of Alexandria. An electronic directory is being prepared, that will serve as an additional mechanism to connect government agencies with those projects which can supply public authorities’ needs in terms of various goods and services.

On his part, Mr. Khaled Nofal, Chairman of the General Authority for Governmental Services, said that General Adel Labib the Governor of Alexandria welcomed the idea of holding an exhibition in Alexandria to exhibit micro and small project products and services with participation of all the public administrative authorities. This exhibition will focus on the services provided by the micro and small projects sector, and on identifying administrative authorities’ needs of new services, which reveals areas where these companies could invest.

This exhibition, interestingly, will offer training to micro and small project entrepreneurs on how to prepare for and participate in exhibitions in general, including registration procedures and the preparation of advertising material, publications and how to display and offer services and goods, not only to meet the needs of administrative bodies, but to meet market needs in general, he noted.

Nofal also stressed the importance of the participation of micro and small project entrepreneurs in the exhibition (free of charge). It also represents an opportunity to register these projects in Alexandria’s administrative authorities’ vendor pool, and to coordinate with project managements to include their data, products and goods in the directory due to be prepared. This will be as a mechanism through which they can market their goods not only to Alexandria’s administrative authorities, but also to neighboring governorates, in which the new initiative will be implemented in the near future.

Source:(Ministry of Finance)