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iv) trade promotion; i.e. enhancing the interaction among the private sectors of OIC member
countries and contributing to the development of their export capacities (COMCEC, 2012).
The COMCEC Strategy recognises that increasing SME contribution to the exports of Member States is
crucial to further expand OIC-trade and strengthen the competitiveness of OIC economies in global
markets. As outlined in Chapter 3, SMEs play a crucial role in Member States’ economies, accounting for
the majority of enterprises and employment and contributing significantly to social inclusion and poverty
reduction. However, they mainly concentrate on local markets and encounter remarkable challenges to
exporting and participating to global value chains.
The axes of intervention outlined by COMCEC to ease intra-OIC trade are expected to benefit SMEs in
particular. In this regard, the Strategy acknowledges that improvement of general framework conditions
needs to be combined with active policies targeting SMEs, to enable them to reap the full benefits from
increased OIC commercial integration. In particular, COMCEC highlights that i) the current framework
of cooperation does not provide an enabling environment for SMEs to develop and establish trade
partnerships and new contacts, and explore new business opportunities in other OIC countries, and; ii)
SMEs in Member States often lack the capacity to develop international markets and export strategies.
Accordingly, some of the actions mentioned by the Strategy, such as reduction of tariff and non-tariff
barriers, simplification and streamlining of trade procedures, or increasing awareness about available
support instruments, address general trade obstacles which however hit SMEs disproportionately. In
addition, specific actions for SMEs are foreseen under the “trade promotion” axe, recognising that
external and internal barriers exist that limit the benefits SMEs may accrue from increased OIC-trade.
Increasing awareness of on-going trade projects, enhancing communication among the private sectors
representatives and institutions of OIC member states, building online networks for business communities
address the lack of information about market opportunities, business partners, export channels and tools
that typically limit SMEs’ investments in this area; improving SME export strategy and international
marketing capacities address the competence and management constraints of small businesses; and
developing capacity of Trade Promotion Organisations responds to the need for upgrading the
institutional infrastructure in support of SME internationalisation and for improving the quality and
accessibility of services for a broad population of SMEs in member states.
4.2 SME export promotion policies in OIC Member Countries
4.2.1 Policy approaches
Promoting export by national businesses has become a policy priority across most OIC countries. All the
countries investigated for this report have put in place a trade promotion plan or strategy in recent years,
although SMEs have not always had a chapter on their own, which implies that SME-target instruments
have not always been explicitly developed. In other cases, export support is rather part of business or
SME development plans, which may cover as diverse – though interrelated - areas as taxation, finance,
training, innovation and internationalisation. In one case, Egypt, a specific export strategy for SMEs was
defined, in 2005, by the Ministry of Finance, within the framework of the “Small and Medium Enterprise
Policy Development Projects” (SMEPOL), implemented by the Ministry and the Canadian International
Development Agency (Table 4.1).