The Malaysian government said that it will carry on its efforts to promote small and medium enterprises (SME) which should, as per government estimates, contribute 37 per cent in the gross domestic product (GDP) of Malaysia by 2010 as compared to 32 percent in the current financial year.

Malaysia's Chief Executive Officer for SMEs, said, Hafsah Hashim said that the government will focus on service sector as well, in a bid to achieve balanced growth rate. She was speaking at a shopping promotion function held in Petaling Jaya, Selangore.

Hashim added that training is the need of the hour for SME industry to register adequate growth rate amid stiff competition from various segments. The government will take an initiative to train SME staff for increasing skills of employees by tailoring a special training program for increasing profit of small and medium scale industry.

While admitting that slowdown has adversely impacted SMEs, Hasim said that situation reported significant improvement from the beginning of second quarter. Hasim added that local and global investors are looking for business opportunities in the country given to the Malaysian government's liberalization measures.