APEC TO ESTABLISH SME CRISIS MANAGEMENT CENTRE

BY ZAKARIA ABDUL WAHAB

SINGAPORE, Oct 9 (Bernama) – The two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) ministerial meeting on small and medium enterprise (SMEs) which
concluded here Friday agreed to establish the APEC SME Crisis Management Centre.

The centre will provide the strategies for SMEs to prepare and undertake
crisis management in an organised and timely manner.

The meeting also supported the implementation of the six priority areas
under the APEC SME Strategic Plan, namely business environment, building
management capability and promoting entrepreneurship, market access and
internationalisation, innovation, financing and sustainable business practices.

In this regard, champion economies in each priority area were identified to
lead the implementation.

Malaysia, together with Mexico, has been identified as champion economies in
the area of business environment, according to a statement issued by Malaysia's
International Trade and Industry Ministry.

The Malaysian delegation to the 16th meeting themed, "Helping SMEs Access
Global Markets and Overcome Trade Barriers", was led by the International Trade
and Industry Deputy Minister Jacob Dungau Sagan.

The statement said during the meeting, Malaysia highlighted the policies and
measures implemented to help domestic SMEs to face challenges arising from the
global financial crisis and the way forward for SMEs to position themselves for
growth after the crisis.

Malaysia welcomed the opportunity to exchange notes and learn from the
experiences of other APEC economies on policies and initiatives to help SMEs to
access global markets.

Malaysia also discussed the follow-up arising from the successful conclusion
of the recent APEC SME Technology Entrepreneur Seminar held last June in Kuala
Lumpur, as a basis to develop future projects, irrespective of whether
APEC-funded or not, in the areas of access to technology, innovation and
entrepreneurship.

The seminar has paved the way for APEC SMEs to take advantage of the latest
advances in information and communication technology, with emphasis on the need
to reduce costs in order to compete globally.

The APEC SME Ministers also endorsed the initiative to develop market
research and market access capabilities for SMEs, in particular, to carry out a
feasibility study on the establishment of an "APEC SME Market Research and
Capability Development Centre (SMRC)" which would bridge the existing gap in
internationalising SMEs among APEC economies.

However, Malaysia, while recognising the potentials of SMRC, was of the view
that the issue of funding to operationalise the centre must be given thorough
deliberation so as to minimise the risk of proliferation in establishing
centres.

Malaysia said, as far as possible, APEC economies should enhance existing
centres rather than creating new ones.

-– BERNAMA