|
|
 |
|
 |
|
| |
|
APEC SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISEMINISTERIAL MEETING
ACAPULCO, MEXICO
24-25 AUGUST 2002
JOINT MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
"EXPANDING THE BENEFITS OF COOPERATION FOR SMES"
- APEC Ministers and their representatives responsible for SMEs from Australia;
Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; the People's Republic of China; Hong Kong,
China; the Republic of Indonesia; Japan; the Republic of Korea; Malaysia;
Mexico; New Zealand; Peru; the Republic of the Philippines; Russian Federation;
Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; the United States of America; and Viet
Nam met on 24-25 August, 2002, in Acapulco, Mexico, for the 9th Meeting of
APEC Ministers responsible for SMEs. The APEC SOM Chair was present. The APEC
Secretariat was also present. The Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) attended
as observer.
- Ministers and their representatives concurred that micro, small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) contribute to ensure sustainable economic growth in the
APEC region. Within this context, they reaffirmed APEC member economies' commitment
to move forward with the common goal of achieving a sound framework in order
to bring about sustainable economic growth in the region.
- Ministers embraced the importance of facilitating the access to investment
among strategic sectors and regions, taking consideration of developing economies'
own potentials and opportunities. The strengthening of regional marketplace
is also essential to achieve sustainable growth, resulting in a greater
job creation and social well being.
- To further the development of the Osaka Action Agenda (OAA), Ministers reiterated
that SMEs in APEC, including micro-enterprises, could make meaningful contributions
towards the expansion and acceleration of trade and investment. Ministers
called for intensified development cooperation to attain equitable and sustainable
development and domestic stability, keeping a close interaction with the private
sector.
EXPANDING THE BENEFITS OF COOPERATION FOR SMES
- Ministers held discussions on how APEC SMEs could best contribute to economic
growth in the APEC region and respond to the challenges emerging in the new
century in order to reach the free and open trade and investment and liberalization
goals set for developed economies in 2010 and developing economies in 2020,
under the Bogor Declaration. Their discussion focused on the issues of Policy
Environment; Sustainable Development; and Regionalism.
I Policy Environment
- Ministers agreed to enrich the cooperation and exchange of information among
economies on the appropriate policy environment conducive to achieving sound
progress towards SMEs development in the region.
- Strengthening a supportive environment and fostering entrepreneurial culture
is also essential to increase SME competitiveness. Among the ways to strengthen
the environment is to provide a sound basis for capital and enterprise formation.
- Ministers commended the progress made on the efforts to enhance the exchange
and cooperation among APEC economies by the implementation of programs such
as business matching programs to foster strategic alliances, training and
certification for small business counselors, access to financing, consumer
education and protection initiatives, access to electronic information, and
innovating entrepreneurship.
- Within the priorities of a conducive policy framework, Ministers encouraged
economies to continue working on specific efforts to improve the functioning
of markets and to enhance SMEs development and called for further attention
on the following:
Micro Financing and Capital Markets
- SMEs need to first to gain access to financing in their home market. Ministers
discussed means of helping SMEs to grow domestically through such approaches
as the creation of guarantee funds or the participation of non-banking intermediaries;
- Ministers discussed the need to promote a financial system within each economy
that fosters cross-border investment and improves enterprises' financial situation,
enabling them to participate more intensively in international markets. A
legal framework that provides certainty to entrepreneurs is a key factor to
assure fair trade practices in the region;
Human Capacity Building
- Ministers discussed the need to accelerate the implementation of training
and certification programs including management training, administrative and
entrepreneurial skills, quality manufacturing process, enterprise and product
competitiveness, technological innovation, technical assistance, and competitive
start-up enterprises.
- Ministers called for the promotion of programs to create competitive human
resources for start-up businesses that foster the creation of new SMEs and
consolidate the permanence of existing ones.
Access to Information
- Recognizing the particular difficulties faced by SMEs in accessing relevant
information, Ministers encouraged SMEs to take advantage of initiatives such
as the new on-line SME information systems, that provide valuable inputs on
enterprises' economic data; business procedures; productivity changes; legal
frameworks; and available financial, training, technological and business
opportunities for the SMEs in the APEC region.
Technology and Technology Sharing
- Ministers supported efforts to bridge the digital divide between developed
and developing economies through mechanisms that foster appropriate technology
sharing, and offering support to SMEs in specific sectors and regions in order
to optimize their processes and increase their competitiveness. This may include
industrial outsourcing practices and enterprise association schemes.
Access to Markets
- Ministers also called for promotion of balanced regional development and
develop productivity chains in strategic industry sectors and implement vendor
programs in which both big enterprises and SMEs benefit from a permanent commercial
relationship in regional and international markets.
- Acknowledging the substantial contribution of SMEs to trade in APEC region
and the potential benefits in economic development to be gained through enhancing
the participation of SMEs in export markets. Ministers called on APEC working
groups and sub fora to develop programs to remove obstacles related to regulatory
reform and legal framework, financial services, access to technology and capacity
building with the aim to ease the transition into export for SMEs and micro
enterprises and to promote the establishment of born global start ups.
Access to Transparent Legal and Regulatory Environment
- Ministers recognized the high cost burden imposed on SMEs in meeting the
standards and conformance requirements in order to gain access to the overseas
market. In this regard Ministers recognized the work being conducted the Committee
on Trade and Investment and its relevant sub-for a, including the Sub-Committee
on Standards and Conformance and encourage further work applicable to SMEs
in these fora.
- Ministers instructed the SME Working Group to work closely with the Committee
on Trade and Investment (CTI) and its relevant fora in exploring ways to further
address the concerns of SMEs in meeting the necessary standards and conformance
requirements of APEC economies and to report its progress next year.
- Ministers encouraged member economies to step up efforts that contribute
towards creating a conducive business environment by eliminating unnecessary
bureaucracy red tape and reducing business start-up requirements. Ministers
recognized the basic principle of "cutting the red tape and rolling out
the red carpet" to start-up businesspeople.
- Ministers commended the efforts made by Chinese Taipei in addressing the
issues of women's entrepreneur and start-up companies through the APEC Symposium
on "Best Practices for Women's Entrepreneurship and Start-up Companies"
held in Chinese Taipei in August 2002. Ministers encourage member economies
to take further actions to improve the policy environment for the development
of women's entrepreneur and start-up companies.
II Sustainable Development
- Ministers recognized that innovation and start-up SMEs are key elements
of success that shape economic growth. The capability of SMEs to benefit from
the new economy relies on innovation, since innovation is both the source
of competitiveness and the key to survival in the new economy. New SMEs contribute
to economic development by triggering competition through innovation, thus
resulting in positive economic growth, technological upgrading, job creation,
and overall improvement in social well being.
- Ministers recommended consideration of innovation policies that provide
channels for start-ups to access a variety of financing resources, research
and development, commercialization, and marketing tools. These innovation
policies, within a conducive business environment, may include promoting research
collaboration, facilitating networking and clustering of firms, encouraging
institutional ties, diffusing technology, increasing personnel mobility,
creating a stable macroeconomic environment, and considering a greater integration
of micro-enterprises, women and young entrepreneurs.
- In order to achieve sustainable growth, Ministers encouraged economies to
consider initiatives in areas such as:
Micro-finance as a Sustainable Development Tool
- Ministers recognized the importance of micro-finance as a sustainable development
tool for micro-enterprises. Ministers took note of the performance of Bank
Rakyat Indonesia's micro-financing system, which provides an extraordinary
example of a commercially viable approach that succeeded during an exceptionally
severe economic crisis.
- Ministers welcomed the recommendations to (1) develop an appropriate risk
based regulatory framework for the commercial microfinance industry; (2) incentivize
banks and financial institutions to enter the business of microfinance; (3)
provide incentives, training and rewards to commercial institutions that demonstrate
excellent performance; (4) limit microfinance subsidies to activities that
disseminate information, develop financial tools, and train managers and staff;
(5) provide capacity-building initiatives for the most promising institutions
entering the micro-financing market; (6) and share lessons across APEC regarding
the transformation of non-governmental organizations to commercial microfinance
institutions.
Seed and Venture Capital Business, and Guarantee Funds
- Seed and venture capital investment firms, together with the fast growing
portfolio firms in which they invest, and the professional services firms
that support them, are powerful sources of job creation, innovation and globalization
in economies around the world. Even though they and their portfolio firms
comprise a tiny percentage of total SMEs, venture capitalists and private
equity investors can play a vital role in accelerating the development of
the economies.
- Seed and venture capital businesses have the potential to alleviate the
situation of asymmetric information facing start-ups and integrate them into
industrial networks, especially high-tech start-ups. Venture capital policies
established by SME Administrations within economies can supplement existing
sources of funds and reduce administrative obstacles to the set-up and operation
of venture capital firms.
- Ministers recognized the need to have a capital formation legal and regulatory
landscape which will promote the formation of angel networks, venture capital
enterprises, and investment banks with open financial markets. Without these
prerequisites it will be difficult to attract capital and the formation of
adequate capital markets.
Ministers agreed to consider:
- Undertaking a review of their legal and regulatory structure to determine
the constraints for the formation of individual and enterprise capital, including
investing in and exiting from enterprises. Revise those laws and regulations
that form barriers to the formation, growth and dissolution of SMEs and capital.
- Explicitly authorizing and encouraging its private sector banks, institutions,
pension funds, investors and corporations to allocate a prudent percentage
of their investment portfolios to limited partnerships in successful venture
capital enterprises, with the goal of developing their own economy's capital
capabilities.
- Review annually the growth of its capital and SME communities and provide
APEC with this report. APEC in turn could consider summarizing and distributing
these findings to its member economies.
Incubation Policy Towards Start-up SMEs
- Incubators can provide individuals or small enterprises the support of space,
equipment, technology, professional manpower, business services, and information.
In incubators, SMEs are allowed to develop new products and new technology
to establish a new business and conduct enterprise transformation and upgrades.
- Incubator centers have the potential to be an important platform for cross-industry
collaboration within the innovation system and a center to disseminate knowledge
within and among APEC economies. It is important that incubator centers carefully
choose participants and develop methodology to measure their performance.
- Ministers acknowledged the importance of incubators and industrial clusters
to the enhancement of the innovative capacity of SMEs and micro-enterprises.
Through these two mechanisms, new forces can continuously inject into economies
to sustain the economic growth. Ministers noted that the project, "From
Income Generation to Patent Creation: Incubating Innovative Micro-enterprises"
proposed by Chinese Taipei this year, is an effort to establish the mechanisms
in the APEC region. Ministers look forward to receiving deliverables
from this project.
Knowledge Platform for Business Start-ups
- In order to create a conducive environment for business start-ups, a platform
may be designed as a mechanism to facilitate entrepreneurs to build up a new
enterprise. A knowledge information center for business start-up and a window
for consultation are encouraged to be established within member economies.
Such centers could provide entrepreneurs channels to establish new ventures
among APEC economies by taking advantage of APEC regional, bilateral and domestic
information portals available.
- A number of mechanisms are needed to improve the functions of the platform
such as assistance in technology consultation, education, financing, and minimizing
the administrative obstacles for new firms and ventures. Ministers acknowledge
that relying solely on domestic efforts is at times not enough to foster innovative
start-ups and maintain sustainable growth. International cooperation is an
important mechanism.
Access to Information and Communications Technology
- Ministers acknowledged the crucial cross cutting role that information,
communications technology (ICT) fulfilled in allowing SMEs and micro enterprises
opportunities to gain a wider global audience for their products and services.
- Ministers recalled the objectives that were launched in Brunei Darussalam
to provide greater universal access to ICT and the internet for APEC economies.
Ministers also acknowledge the need to increase the human capacity aspect
for entrepreneurs to utilize technology to better conduct their businesses
and improve greater ability to penetrate international markets. In this regard,
Ministers called for human capacity building efforts to be continued with
the involvement of all stakeholders towards building institutional capacity
and achievement of social development goals.
- Ministers endorsed the proposal to hold a Seminar on Sharing Best Practices
for SMEs Business Development Centers, including micro-enterprises, and commended
Mexico, Thailand and the United States for taking the leadership in organizing
this event and report its result to the next SME Ministerial Meeting.
III Regionalism
- As to regionalism, Ministers noted that while APEC itself is a region, there
are also distinct region within most APEC economies. Building a strong economy
for APEC as a whole, begins with building strong region within each economy.
This is important for economic and social development and SMEs have a key
role to play. The challenge in dealing with SMEs is to ensure that they are
provided with appropriate and coordinated services at the regional level most
suitable for them. At the same time, SMEs should be encouraged to participate
in the opportunities created in the whole APEC region.
- Ministers stressed that efforts must be directed to strengthen productive
chains through the promotion of enterprise association schemes, to create
formation and development of industry and commerce vendor programs, and the
facilitation of access to trade and investment among strategic sectors and
regions, taking advantage of developing economies' own potentials, strengths,
and opportunities be considered.
- Ministers recognized that strengthening regional market is key to achieving
sustainable development envisioning the expansion to other markets, resulting
in a greater job creation and social well being.
- As stated in the Osaka Action Agenda, Ministers reiterated that market access
is critical to the globalization efforts of SMEs and their ability to take
full advantage of the post-Bogor environment.
- Ministers expressed the willingness that by the year 2020, SMEs should be
increasingly globalized and internationally competitive as a result of being
better able to identify and meet demands for goods and services across APEC
economies, and having improved access to timely and quality information about
market opportunities.
- Member economies are encouraged to expand SME economic opportunities by
further liberalizing and facilitating trade and investment to enable SMEs
to fulfill their potential. SMEs need coordinated business support services
in their home region and accurate and timely information on foreign markets,
market opportunities, cultural and business practices, and regulations.
- In this context, Ministers welcomed the efforts made to finalize the APEC
SME Profile 2000 and the SME Portal Hub, which provide valuable information
on the SMEs situation and opportunities to facilitate access to international
markets, trade and investment within APEC economies.
- Ministers welcomed as well the progress made on updating the Integrated
Action Plan for SME Development (SPAN) to establish a generic policy framework
and guidelines to help SMEs adjust to policies that support regionalism. SPAN
helps participating economies benefit in three ways:
- Allows for international comparability of policies, programs and best practices;
- Assist all APEC fora identify specific policies and programs which may foster
the development, growth and competitiveness of micro-enterprises and SMEs
(MSMEs) across the region; and
- Situates the assessment of specific MSME policies and programs in the context
of regional trade and investment policies.
SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE WORKING GROUP REPORT
- Ministers welcomed the report made by the Working Group on the follow-up
tasks given by the SME Ministerial Meeting, the Joint Ministerial Meeting
and the Leaders Meeting in 2001, as well as work progress derived from the
2002 tasking statements.
- Ministers took note of the report on the implementation of Shanghai Accord,
and endorsed the establishment of a task force to study the development of
a monitoring mechanism and information exchange on MSMEs on a voluntary basis.
- Ministers also received reports on progress on the broadening and updating
the OAA; promoting the adoption of appropriate trade policies for the New
Economy; and the initiative on the strengthening ECOTECH and capacity building
efforts. The Ministers welcomed the establishment of the APEC IBIZ in its
contribution to the capacity building of micro-enterprises and SMEs.
- Ministers endorsed a set of action plans to be carried out by the SMEWG
to implement the E-APEC Strategy. The Action Plan touches upon the elements
of: Facilitation for access to information for SMEs through ICT; Consolidation
of Infrastructure for ICT Applications; Electronic Commerce; e-Learning; and
Application of ICT to Business Management.
- Ministers encouraged member economies to make full use of services offered
in the Virtual Classroom and Cyber Forum of the HCB Promotion Program Website
and promote more effective sharing of best practices on human capacity building
in APEC, as part of the Beijing Initiative.
- Ministers commended the efforts made by SMEWG on the implementation of the
Framework for the Integration of Women in APEC and welcomed the offer of the
United States to continue to act as the Gender Focal Point for the Working
Group for the next year and to oversee the study on the Economic Contributions
of Women and Men in APEC Economies: The Need for Sex-disaggregated Data.
- Following the Ministers' instruction to the SMEWG to have closer interaction
with the business community, the Working Group reported that it had been agreed
to have the ABAC SME Task Force to report to the SMEWG regularly on action
taken in ABAC on SME issues.
- In response to the APEC Ministers' instruction for the identification and
invitation of the participation of outside groups, which could contribute,
to their work, the SMEWG agreed to invite the OECD to attend the 15th SMEWG
Meeting in Acapulco, to brief the SMEWG on its activities on SMEs. The Ministers
instructed the Working Group to continue exploring potential collaboration
with the OECD in line with the relevant existing APEC guidelines.
Enhancement and Deepening of SPAN
- Ministers welcomed the efforts made to advance in the SMEWG amendments to
the priority areas and SME-related actions of Osaka Action Agenda (OAA), jointly
with the Integrated Plan of Action for SME Development (SPAN); and directed
SMEWG to continue encouraging the implementation of relevant and joint activities
derived from the document.
- Ministers approved the proposed enhancement of SPAN (Annex 1). The New SPAN
contains:
- guidelines for economies to develop SMEs polices and strategies;
- a suggested framework for economic cooperation concerning SMEs within APEC;
and
- a six priority area that represent the focal points for APEC SME initiatives
as drawn from the OAA - which now include: policy environment, in addition
to human resource development, financing, technology and technology sharing,
access to markets, and access to information.
- The new SPAN included an Evaluation Framework which describes three elements
required to assist APEC fora and economies to identify and analyze policy
issues, including the review of best practices:
- Efficiency Criteria
- Relevance to Priorities and Objectives
- Cost Effectiveness
- Ministers instructed APEC economies to further the development of SPAN's
Policy Framework including the policy issues relating to the formation and
growth of micro-enterprises.
Improving Coordination and Focus of the SME Working Group
- Ministers recognized the importance of the need for the work of the SME
Working Group to focus more closely on policy development and also to improve
coordination both between the Group and the SME Ministerial Meeting and the
other relevant fora throughout APEC
Completed, On-going and New Projects of SMEWG
- Ministers welcomed reports on several successfully completed projects, including:
- China's Seminar on Opportunities and Challenges for APEC SMEs after China's
Accession into WTO Accession (China)
- USA's Voluntary Visitors Program for APEC SME Officials (USA)
- Training and Certification for Small Business Counselors (Canada/Philippines)
- Ministers also noted continued progress in assisting SMEs in the region
under the SMEWG's on-going projects, including:
- Russia's Innovation Forum "International Business Cooperation in the
Sphere of Innovative Entrepreneurship" (June 2002)
- Chinese Taipei's APEC SME Profile 2000
- Japan's Evolving Cooperation Initiative for SME and New Business Support
- Philippines and Canada's Small Business counselors
- USA's Business Partnership Initiative for SME Strategic Alliances
- USA's Consumer Education and Protection Initiative
- Canada and PECC's Portal Hub
- Japan's APEC Business Matching and Advice Program
- Ministers also welcomed the following new project proposals and instructed
the SMEWG to further develop the proposals:
- From Income Generation to Patent Creation: Incubating Innovative Micro-enterprises
(Chinese Taipei)
- Enterpreneurs Consortium (USA and PECC)
- Seminars on "Growing the APEC Small Business Exporter Community"
(Australia)
- Implementation and Program Enhancement APEC-IBIZ (Mexico and APEC IBIZ)
- The Need and Availability of Micro-Finance Services for Micro-enterprises:
Bringing Multi Level Good Practices into Local Context (Indonesia)
HIGH LEVEL MEETING ON MICRO-ENTERPRISES
- Ministers recognized that APEC is well suited to play a leading role in
contributing to the integration of micro-enterprises in the globalization
process. Ministers welcomed the efforts undertaken during 2002 to explore
ways to assist people engaged in micro-enterprises reap the benefits of economic
growth and development that are created by open markets and globalization.
- In that regard, Ministers considered the outcomes of the High Level Meeting
on Micro-enterprises (HLMME), held on 17-18 August 2002, in Acapulco (Annex
2). Among the main findings of the HLMME, Ministers acknowledged that attention
to micro-enterprises is an organic part of promoting progress towards APEC
objectives in terms of gender equity, poverty alleviation, and the strengthening
of social safety nets. At the same time, Ministers confirmed the overarching
objective of shared prosperity and the aim to empower micro-enterprises through
access to information, training and capital.
- Ministers stressed that it is necessary to improve the focus of APEC's objectives
and develop visionary strategies to achieve them. Moreover, Ministers recognized
the need for innovative strategies to access greater funds by building partnerships
to mobilize the financial resources of APEC member economies, the private
sector and development agencies.
- In recognition of the unique challenges faced by micro-enterprises and their
immense importance for employment and income creation in APEC economies, Ministers
endorsed the creation of a sub-group within the SMEWG to address micro-enterprises
development. Ministers instructed the Working Group to develop terms of reference
for the sub group as soon as possible, and instructed that an action plan
for micro enterprises be develop through the sub group, taking into account
the result of the High Level Meeting on Micro enterprises and the work being
conducted by relevant APEC fora and other APEC stakeholders, such as ABAC
and WLN, and that such action plan is presented to the next SME Ministerial
Meeting.
- Furthermore, Ministers instructed the SMEWG to coordinate, through its new
sub-group, work with all APEC fora and sub-fora involved in issues pertaining
to micro-enterprises development, such as capacity building, financing, gender
integration, information and telecommunication technologies, and infrastructure,
among others. (See Annex 2 for executive summary of HLMME).
COUNTER TERRORISM
- Recognizing that micro, small and medium enterprises are particularly sensitive
to economic disruption, Ministers agreed that APEC economies cooperate fully
to ensure that international terrorism does not disrupt economies and markets,
through close communication and cooperation among economic policy and financial
authorities.
ABAC AND WLN REPORTS
- Ministers welcomed the reports from the APEC Business Advisory Council and
from the Women Leader's Network (see Annex 3) on their priority recommended
actions, and instructed SMEWG to incorporate them into the group's work, as
appropriate.
- Ministers reiterated the Leaders'calls to economies to appoint an SME representative
as one of their ABAC members.
ASIAN SME AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT
- Ministers welcomed Hong Kong, China for inviting all member economies
to attend the Asian SME and Entrepreneurial Summit, jointly organized by Hong
Kong Productivity Council and the Mansfield Center for Pacific Affairs of
the U.S. Experts, academics and officials from non-governmental organizations
exchanged ideas and experiences, in order to help identify best practices
of nurturing the development and success of entrepreneurs and SME's in the
Asian economies.
RESULTS FROM THE JOINT SESSION WITH BUSINESS DELEGATES
- Ministers held a joint session with representatives from the Business Forum.
Ministers welcomed the extensive involvement of SMEs and both sides welcomed
this opportunity for dialogue and supported continued efforts toward producing
mutually desired results. During the Ministerial Meeting, representatives
from SMEs in the APEC region held a concurrent Business Forum and Exhibition
in Acapulco.
- Ministers welcomed the results derived from the Business Forum discussions
on how to trade and invest in various sectors.
STATEMENTS FROM OBSERVERS AND 10th APEC SME MINISTERIAL
- Ministers appreciated comprehensive statements provided by the Pacific Economic
Cooperation Council (PECC).
- Ministers look forward to successful implementation of SMEWG activities
and participation in the 10th APEC Ministerial Meeting for Ministers Responsible
for Small and Medium Enterprises in August 2003 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
