"The jute sector is in a horrible stage. There are huge ghost workers in the public jute mills. All of them will be identified by the study. And then we will decide how the jute sector will go further," she said, adding that a long-term plan for the development of the jute sector is being worked out.

The adviser was speaking at a seminar titled 'National Budget for 2007-08:What's in the basket for SMEs,' organised by the Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) in partnership with Katalyst.

Hossain Khaled, president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), Zakaria Kazal, ERF president, and Nazmul Ahsan, general secretary, were present at the function.

Titu Datta Gupta, joint news editor of the New Age, presented the keynote paper on SMEs in Bangladesh's Business Landscape: A Journalistic Review.

The adviser, also in charge of the ministries of textiles and jute, said buyers for Bangladeshi jute products are now shifting to another country.

"We are trying to communicate with them so that they come to Bangladesh again as jute products now marked an improvement," she said.

The adviser stressed the need for developing the small and medium enterprises in the interest of the country's economic development.

She said the people, especially the women, who have not enough money for bigger enterprises, are the main engine behind the growing SME sector.

A long-term plan for the SME sector is needed so that it runs smoothly and contributes to the country's economy significantly, she suggested.

In his paper Gupta recommended rationalisation of duty rates for industrial raw materials, intermediate and finished products.

He also laid emphasis on the central bank's refinancing for the SME sector.

Budgetary allocation for technical support, skill training and quality control for the SME development is also needed, he said.