APEC business council urges more focus on MSMEs

The body that makes business policy recommendations to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) says that micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the APEC community require greater attention than they currently get, as they are the economic “backbone” of many countries. “There is a need to provide [MSMEs with] financing, use of information and communication technology and to make enterprises more inclusive particularly for the youth and women,” said Juan Franco Raffo, SME Working Group head of the APEC Business Advisory Council during the ABAC meeting in Makati. More focus also needs to be placed on investments and trade in services, said ABAC representatives. Despite services' comprising at least 50 percent of APEC nations' gross domestic products (and as much as 90 percent for those of developed nations), “services has [historically] been that sector that has not been given enough attention in negotiations,” said Anthony Nightingale, chair of ABAC's Action Planning Advocacy Working Group. Because of the importance of services to the economy, countries should set up initiatives that would allow the development of new approaches and collaborations, the council said in its recommendations. They should also consider liberalizing trade and investments in services, said Nightingale. The ABAC is also urging the creation of an Asia-Pacific free trade area as a way to achieve its goal of free and open trade and investments. — BM, GMA News