MSMEs crucial for creating jobs, income in developing countries: Goyal

India Sunday pitched for promoting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in developing countries as they are important for employment and income generation.

This was emphasised by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal at a session on ''Promotion of Trade and Investment that contribute to Sustainable and Inclusive Growth' at G20 Summit in Japan.

He stressed that there is a need to support MSMEs in developing countries to spur job creation and promote trade in a sustainable manner.

Supporting greater participation of MSMEs in developing countries are crucial for jobs and income generation, he added.

The minister said that free trade and investments will benefit developing countries when they remain development centric.

"Deviation from this fundamental objective is the main reason for increasing disparities within and across nations. Even today a large number of nations are still struggling to effectively integrate in the global trading system, which raises doubts about their efficacy," Goyal said.

Critical linkage between financial and human capital also needs to be recognised to promote trade and investments in a sustainable and inclusive manner, he added.

MSMEs contribute around 45 per cent in India's exports, about 25 per cent to the GDP from service activities and over 33 per cent to the manufacturing output of India.

Meanwhile at the sidelines of the G20 meet, the commerce minister held series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from various countries, including the UK, Japan, Spain, Korea and South Africa and discussed ways to increase trade and investments.

"Met @LiamFox, Secretary of State for International Trade, UK at the sidelines of G20 summit in Japan. We engaged in a valuable discussion regarding steps to provide further impetus to our trading relationship and facilitating more business and investment opportunities," he said in a series of tweets.

With Japan, he also discussed issues related with a proposed mega free trade agreement Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

G-20 is a grouping of developed and developing nations. The members include India, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, EU, France, Gemaany, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, UK and the US.