APEC Singapore 2009
16th APEC SME Ministerial Meeting
Closing News Conference
9 October 2009
- Ministers responsible for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies have pledged to continue to make every effort to help SMEs overcome the economic crisis and strengthen their capabilities to access global market opportunities and position for growth.
- The Ministers also reiterated the call by APEC Leaders for member economies to continue prioritising initiatives that resist protectionism while supporting capacity building and access to financing for APEC SMEs.
- They made the commitment in a Joint Ministerial Statement issued at the end of their two-day meeting from 8-9 October in Singapore. The meeting is part of the year-long APEC Singapore 2009 that will culminate in the APEC Leaders’ Week in November.
- The APEC SME Ministers also agreed to complement the work of their Trade counterparts who met earlier in July in Singapore. The APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade had called for efforts among member economies to foster inclusive and sustainable growth strategies, facilitate trade and investment flows, resist protectionism and keep their markets open, and give a new push to concluding the Doha Round.
- In their discussions, the SME Ministers focused on three key areas:
1) Helping SMEs position for growth after the crisis
2) Developing SMEs’ market access capabilities
3) Supporting implementation of the APEC SME Working Group’s Strategic Plan
Helping SMEs enhance capabilities and position for growth
- The Ministers noted measures taken by various member economies in helping their SMEs manage the impacts of the global financial crisis. They recognised that with signs of the global economy recovering, the focus now would be on policies and initiatives to help APEC SMEs become more resilient and to position themselves to seize new opportunities for growth. They welcomed the proposal by Singapore to study the concept and feasibility of setting up an APEC SME Market Research and Capability Development Centre to coordinate efforts by member economies to help SMEs access global markets.
Supporting the implementation of the Strategic Plan
- The Ministers encouraged further efforts by the APEC SME Working Group in developing initiatives aimed at advancing the six priority areas under its four-year Strategic Plan for 2009-2012. Specifically, these efforts should:
1) Continue to enhance the business environment
2) Build management capability and promote entrepreneurship
3) Enhance SMEs’ access to markets
4) Promote innovation as a key competitive advantage of SMEs
5) Encourage sustainable business practices
- At the closing news conference, Singapore’s Minister of State for Trade & Industry and Manpower, Mr Lee Yi-Shyan, who chaired the two-day Ministerial Meeting, said, “Developing our SMEs has always been a priority in APEC as SMEs are important to our economies. This task has taken on even greater significance because of the crisis. We need to find ways to strengthen the capabilities of our SMEs to become more resilient and to tap opportunities that can sustain their growth in the long term.”
- Twenty Ministers and their representatives attended the APEC SME Ministerial Meeting. It was preceded by a meeting of the APEC SME Working Group, which was attended by some 60 senior government officials.
APEC 2009 SME Theme
- In line with the theme of ‘Helping SMEs Access Global Markets and Overcome Trade Barriers’, the week-long event kicked off with the seminar on ‘Accelerating SMEs’ Access to Global Markets’, organised by Singapore. Another seminar on ‘SMEs’ Access to Credit’, organised by New Zealand and a ‘Pandemic Influenza Train the Trainer’ Workshop, organised by the United States were also held on the fringes of the meetings.
APEC 2010 SME Theme
- The next APEC SME Ministerial Meeting will be held in October 2010 in Gifu, Japan. The APEC 2010 SME theme will be ‘Strategy for Reinvigorating Economic Growth with Dual Engine: SME and Asia-Pacific Economy’.
* * * *END * * * *