New Delhi: Inaugurating the fifth India Global Summit on Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) 2008 summit, Vayalar Ravi, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India, called the growth of this sector a 'movement'.  He mentioned that the Government of India has supported this sector since the 1950s, and with the enactment of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act (MSMED Act) 2006, the Government of India continues to give full support to the MSME's.

The Minister also released the CII SME Annual Report and the Publication "Opportunity India: Advantage Indian SMEs", a study of Joint Ventures and Technology Collaboration between Indian SMEs and Foreign companies.

Transforming micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) into world class entities was the theme of the fifth India Global Summit on MSMEs 2008, held in New Delhi from 18-19 March 2008.  The Summit was organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India, in association with SIDBI.   

Providing the Nigerian perspective, Modupe A Adelaja, Director General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria said that Nigerians have always been entrepreneurial in nature, and the Nigerian government while recognizing that energy needed to be tapped to reduce poverty among its population, focused on wealth creation through MSMEs as one critical point of its 7-point development agenda.  India and Nigeria, she said, have a common historical background, and Nigeria can learn from the Indian experience.