APEC SME Business Forum 2001 Opens in ShanghaiMore than 1,200 people from 20 APEC members, delegates to the 13th working group meeting of the 8th APEC SME Ministerial Meeting (APEC SME), and officials from China's State Economic and Trade Commission and the Shanghai Municipal Government attended the opening ceremony. Since small and medium-sized enterprises play an important role in the APEC member economies, the APEC SME Business Forum has drawn wide attention. The forum is one of the large-sized activities involving enterprises during a series of APEC meetings this year. The theme of the forum is New Century, New Challenges -- Innovation and Development Environment. The forum also has three sub-themes: Advancing Innovation, Facilitating Financing and Developing Service Organization. Under the main theme and the sub-themes, the forum will focus on topics of common concern such as SMEs and innovation, the high technology-backed development of SMEs, challenges SMEs are faced with in the new century, the development environment for SMEs, and facilitating financing and venture enterprises. A total of 34 representatives from 18 APEC member economies, Finland and the Netherlands will give speeches on these topics at the forum. Li Rongrong, chairman of the 8th APEC SME Ministerial Meeting and minister in charge of China's State Economic and Trade Commission, said at the opening ceremony that it is insightful for APEC to take SMEs as the focus of attention as the rapid economic globalization has brought about both opportunities and challenges in their road of development. SMEs in China and other parts of the world are facing similar problems for further development, such as obsolete technology, restrained financing ability and lack of talented people, he said, adding that the Chinese government is to take effective measures to resolve these problems. Under the APEC principles of involvement by enterprises, a dialogue between the ministers in charge of SMEs participating in the 8th APEC SME ministerial meeting and the business leaders will be held at the forum. Business talks on economic and technological cooperation will also be organized during the five-day forum. Some 132 Chinese enterprises and 60 enterprises from other APEC member economies have applied to attend the talks. Earlier Monday, an APEC SME Exhibition was launched at Shanghai 's International Convention Center. The four-day exhibition, by photographs and other multimedia means, is aimed at showcasing the achievements of the SMEs of the APEC members and facilitating the exchange of experiences among them. In his speech at the opening ceremony, Shanghai Mayor Xu Kuangdi said that SMEs have become a major force for the economic growth of Shanghai. They are playing an increasingly important role in restructuring the economy, optimizing the industrial layout and promoting innovation. He expressed the belief that the exhibition will help create a favorable environment for the development of SMEs in the Asia- Pacific region and promoting the common prosperity of all APEC members. Chronology of APEC Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)The following is a chronology of the APEC Small and Medium Enterprise (APEC SME) Ministerial Meeting since 1994.The first APEC SME Ministerial Meeting was held in Osaka, Japan, on October 22-23, 1994 to discuss the role and importance of the SME, direction of policies of the SME, fostering SME growth and APEC industrial outlook study as well as the recommendations for APEC action. The second APEC SME Ministerial Meeting occurred in Adelaide, Australia, on September 14-15, 1995. The ministers studied policies on the SME and discussed how to improve the competitiveness of the SME and the general principles for SME policy implementation. The third APEC SME Ministerial Meeting was held in Cebu, Philippines, on September 5-6, 1996. The theme of the meeting was to talk about the foundations of SME work in APEC, the accomplishments, greater private section participation and future actions. The fourth APEC SME Ministerial Meeting was held in Ottawa, Canada, on September 18-19, 1997. A joint statement emphasized the importance of policies and programs to support the SMEs at both the domestic and international levels. It said the ministers considered issues of importance to the SMEs in five key areas of access to: markets, technology, human resources, financing, and information. The ministers also endorsed the 1997 APEC SME Individual Action Plan in the meeting. The fifth APEC SME Ministerial Meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on September 7-8, 1998. The ministers reviewed the work of the Policy Level Group on the SME and discussed an Integrated Plan of Action for SME Development, the impact of the regional financial instability on the SMEs and the importance of electronic commerce for the SMEs. The sixth APEC SME Ministerial Meeting was held in Christchurch, New Zealand, on April 26-28, 1999, to discuss the key issues affecting SME growth. Apart from discussions on the regional financial crisis, ministers and business leaders considered ways to promote SME growth under four priority areas: enhancing management performance through education, reducing barriers to trade and compliance costs, improving capital markets and access to them and strengthening linkages to assist business within the region. The seventh APEC SME Ministerial Meeting was held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, on June 22-23, 2000. The meetings discussed matters concerned with responding to the needs of APEC SMEs, focusing on four main issues: capacity building of APEC SMEs, enabling APEC SMEs to capitalize on electronic commerce, making financial and capital markets more accessible to the SMEs and towards harnessing diversity for shared economic prosperity. |
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