ASEAN explores interim virtual network to link, support small businesses

详细摘要

Southeast Asian leaders are looking into launching a temporary, online regional network to connect existing small-business programs while weighing ...

MANILA – Southeast Asian leaders are looking into launching a temporary, online regional network to connect existing small-business programs while weighing plans for a permanent center of excellence.

At the 49th ASEAN Summit in Manila on Sunday, ASEAN leaders issued the Declaration on Strengthening ASEAN Cooperation for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, directing regional economic officials to explore options for an "interim virtual regional arrangement."

The digital setup is designed to keep the momentum going for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which make up the vast majority of businesses across the ASEAN region, while the bloc reviews an ongoing Feasibility and Scoping Study for the proposed ASEAN Center of Excellence for MSMEs (ACE-MSMEs).

“Noting that the dynamic and rapidly-evolving global economic landscape characterized by supply chain reconfigurations, technological transformation, climate change and green transition, and emerging economic security challenges requires a more innovative, coordinated, and forward-looking approach to MSME development in the region,” the declaration read, citing the need for faster, more coordinated support.

Instead of building a brand-new platform from scratch, the proposed virtual arrangement would plug directly into tools that ASEAN already runs, including the ASEAN SME Academy, ASEAN Access, and the ASEAN Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network.

Under the declaration, leaders tasked the ASEAN Coordinating Committee on MSMEs (ACCMSME), working through senior economic officials and economic ministers, to examine how this virtual model could handle practical tasks.

This includes coordinating with and supporting existing ASEAN MSME initiatives and platforms; improving the visibility of, and access to, ASEAN’s current MSME knowledge resources; coordinating technical assistance and capacity-building activities; mobilizing partnerships with Dialogue and Development Partners, international organizations…

Alongsi…

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