US-Asean Business Council takes lead to boost SMEs

[ 05-06-2015 ]

KUALA LUMPUR: The US-Asean Business Council, Procter & Gamble and eBay have teamed up to strengthen the small and medium enterprises’ (SME) competitiveness in Asean.

US ambassador to Asean, Nina Hachigian said on Tuesday the US has a longstanding commitment to support SME development in the region.

She said SMEs comprise of 92% to 99% of the commercial enterprises in Asean and employ between 60% and 90% of the domestic workforce.

The removal of non-tariff barriers would help Asean SMEs grow as regional and global companies, she said.

Meanwhile, according to eBay's report “Commerce 3.0: Enabling Asean’s small and medium enterprises”, it said that trade between Singapore and Malaysia is the highest for intra-Asean trade flows.

Around 94% of commercial eBay sellers from Malaysia sell domestically and ship to other states.