Conducive climate for SMEs stressed

CALLING the SMEs as the backbone of world economies, a member of the Abac-Brunei yesterday urged for creating a conducive economic environment to ensure the sustainability of the SME.

In his opening remarks at the Apec SME summit held at The Empire Hotel and Country Club yesterday, Hj Salleh Bostaman Hj Zainal Abidin, the Managing Director of Brunei LNG and a member of Abac-Brunei, said that most economies have taken steps to provide sufficient financing methods towards SMEs for further development.

He said the SMEs suffer faster due to fall in demand in times of crisis. Identifying such factors is the main purpose of the summit. He hoped that discussions during the summit would suggest ways to re-create a new framework to help protect the SMEs.

More than 200 members from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) and the Business Advisory Council (Abac) attended the one-day summit, which discussed issues faced by SMEs due to current economic crisis and ways to overcome them. An insight of local SMEs and how key corporation such as Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) can assist them were also presented.

He said that the meeting of minds of nearly 20 economies at a single session will produce results which will be delivered to world leaders at the Apec meeting scheduled to be held in Singapore, this year.

He also stressed that the Abac as the advisory council of nations in the Asia-Pacific region plays an important role in the pursuit of open trade and investment among the economies. He also assured that the summit will create flexibility and innovation, especially pertaining to SMEs which are the backbone of world economies.

In Brunei, developing SMEs is a natural agenda, he said, adding that this was also stressed by His Majesty and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam in a titah emphasising the importance of entrepreneurship. He said that the summit will not only put forward strategies to cope with future uncertainties.

In the face of current economic downturn, he said many economies have resorted to protectionist measures. Recognising this threat, the Apec leaders have taken wise and necessary measures to ensure that the free flow of trade and capital between economies was not jeopardised.

The summit, held in conjunction with the Second Meeting of Abac, saw moderators from different backgrounds and professions in discussion which focused on the difficult economic period that SMEs are expected to face in 2009 and possibly beyond. They also discussed how to exploit the potential of a regionally integrated Apec.

The Brunei summit will subsequently be followed by summits in Hangzhou, China; Singapore and Lima; Peru. Present at the event was Dato Paduka Hj Hamdillah Hj Abd Wahab, the Deputy Minister of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR).

The event was organised by Asia Inc and co-hosted by the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) and supported by BSP and Brunei LNG. (JNB1)

The Brunei Times

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