Small businesses can grow with no protection, Lee says
Small businesses can grow with no protection, Lee says
JAKARTA (JP): Singapore Deputy Prime Minister B.G. Lee said
yesterday that small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) are
able to grow in the absence of government protection.
Lee said that SMEs can grow in tandem with the rest of an open
economy if they are progressively upgraded and assisted to adopt
to new economic realities, without the government having to
resort to direct protectionism.
"Even though the productivity of SMEs and the volume of their
exports may be lower than the modern sector, SMEs still form an
indispensable part of Singapore's economy and society," Lee told
the 21st International Small Business Congress.
The three-day congress, officially opened by President
Soeharto yesterday, is attended by over 700 participants from 38
countries. Other speakers included a number of Indonesian
ministers and a dozen economists from noted international
agencies.
Lee said the success of his country in developing small
business resulted from intensive support from the Singaporean
government's three development agencies, the National
Productivity Board (NPB), Singapore Institute of Standards and
Industrial Research and Economic Development Board (EDB).
The NPB, an agency designed to promote productivity, has
helped the retail sector upgrade training programs and form
business groupings, he said.
Lee said that the research agency provides SMEs with access to
technology while the EDB helps them on a sectoral basis such as
providing finance schemes, he said.
He added that such approaches have enabled small businesses in
Singapore to grow with no special protection from the government.
"Sustainable forms of North-South co-operation in promoting
SMEs are likely those contracted by mutually consenting parties
from the private sector, encouraged by the governments' support,
following market forces rather than running counter to them," Lee
said in his paper titled "The Role of SMEs in Sustainable
Development: North-South Cooperation."
The paper describes how Singapore has promoted SMEs while
relying on MNCs to provide investments, jobs and linkage with
markets throughout the world.(hen)