KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — A group of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) urged the government today to retain SME Corp under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) instead of moving it to the new Ministry of Entrepreneur Development.

Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (Samenta) said the current arrangement of having SME Corp and the National SME Development Council under Miti has enabled seamless coordination with the international trade community.

"Among the pain points of SME is that of market access and capacity building.

"Having SME Corp placed along with Matrade and Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) within Miti would help ensure a unified policy playbook for SMEs,” Samenta vice chairman Datuk William Ng said in a statement.

Entrepreneur Development deputy minister Mohd Hatta Ramli reportedly said last month that his ministry was in talks with the prime minister to take over government departments, agencies and statutory bodies related to entrepreneur development, such as Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara), SME Corp, and Tekun Nasional among others.