Press Releases

Director-General of Trade & Industry reaffirms Government's commitment to facilitate sustainable growth of SMEs at the APEC SME Ministerial Meeting
Sunday, August 25, 2002

The 9th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Ministerial Meeting was successfully concluded in Acapulco, Mexico on Sunday (August 25). Recognising that SMEs are the driving force of economic growth in APEC economies, Ministers and their representatives responsible for SMEs reaffirmed their commitment to put in place a favourable policy environment to enhance the development of SMEs, including micro enterprises, to attain sustainable growth, technological upgrading, job creation and welfare improvement.

Various measures were identified as being instrumental to the development of start-ups and SMEs, including providing SMEs with diversified and specific channels for financing, providing incubation for business start-ups, promoting entrepreneurship, investing in human capacity building, and helping SMEs expand market through closer regional cooperation and further lowering of tariff and non-tariff barriers.

Speaking at the Ministerial Meeting, Director-General of Trade and Industry, Mr. Joshua Law, who is head of the Hong Kong, China delegation said, "Governments' policies for supporting SMEs should be premised on the principle of providing incentives and support to help SMEs build capabilities and stay ahead, rather than making them over-reliant on government subsidy."

Commenting on Government's efforts to help SMEs in Hong Kong access Mainland and overseas market, Mr. Law said, "China's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has brought about new business opportunities for SMEs. Hong Kong is now conducting consultations with the Mainland on a Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), under which goods and services produced by Hong Kong will enjoy further and substantial market access in the Mainland. The successful conclusion of CEPA will provide further development opportunities for SMEs in a wide spectrum of industries."

"On the multilateral front, a new round of WTO negotiations was launched in November last year, with a view to further reducing or eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers among member economies. The ambitious outcome of this new round of negotiations will likely bring substantial benefits to Hong Kong's trade and industries in the long term. Though it was not an easy round of talks, given its tight timeframe and the different interests among WTO members, Hong Kong, China will spare no efforts in playing an active and constructive role in these negotiations in close partnership with Mexico and other key players, to ensure that we achieve meaningful results under the Doha Development Round," Mr. Law added.

During the two-day meeting, Ministers benchmarked each other's SME policies and support measures, and had a fruitful exchange of views with the APEC Business Advisory Council and businessmen participating in the APEC SME Business Forum.

In the past twelve months, APEC member economies initiated various projects to help SMEs embrace new business opportunities, including a seminar on opportunities and challenges for APEC SMEs after China's accession to the WTO, and a forum on international business cooperation in the sphere of innovative entrepreneurship. The former was organised by China and the latter by Russia. The Trade and Industry Department organised SMEs in Hong Kong to participate in both events.

The outcomes of the Ministerial Meeting were summarised in a statement jointly issued by Ministers.

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