RI to raise issues on SMEs to APEC meet

RI to raise issues on SMEs to APEC meet

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia will bring up the issues of small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) and micro finance services to a ministerial
meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in
Santiago, Chile, from Oct. 2 to Oct. 7.

Head of Indonesia's delegation to the meeting Noer Soetrisno
said over the weekend Chile had asked Indonesia to bring up two
out of the four issues to be discussed in the meeting in which
Indonesia had the most experience.

The two other issues in the agenda to be discussed in the
meeting are human resources and information technology.

The meeting will be attended by 25 delegations from 13 APEC
member countries and two observers from Macao and Pacific Island
Forum.

Noer said of the enterprise issue, Chile had asked Indonesia's
delegation to share its experience, especially in policy, even
though the country had yet to enjoy optimum development in the
sector.

On the micro finance services, Chile considered Indonesia
successful in developing the services with the support from
banks.

In addition to the two issues, Indonesia would also present
the development of two APEC projects in the country, namely "BRI
International Visitors Program" and a study on the need and
availability of micro finance services for micro enterprises.

The study will be conducted this month with comparisons to be
made between Indonesia and Malaysia, the Philippines and
Thailand.

Noer said Indonesia would also propose a project for an APEC
workshop to share experiences on the regulatory environment for
micro enterprises development.

"Hopefully, the project will get support from other APEC
members," Noer said.