It is interesting to highlight APEC's achievements in this regard founded by the Leaders' instructions to convene the first SME Ministerial Meeting in 1993. This forum has generated a chain of valuable accomplishments, namely: the Action Program for Small and Medium Enterprises under the Osaka Action Agenda (OAA) in 1995; the preparation of the Integrated Plan of Action for SMEs (SPAN) in 1998; the series of Strategic Plans; the Daegu Initiative; the organization of the Joint SME-MRT Ministerial Meeting in 2011 to address top barriers to SME trade; as well as the Nanjing Declaration on Promoting Innovation and Sustainability.
While APEC's efforts have been wide-ranging from providing capacity building programs to facilitating access to financial services, MSMEs continue to be confronted with challenges on several fronts, thus impairing their ability to gain entry to regional and global markets, or even to be part of global value chains (GVCs). The key constraints include underdeveloped infrastructure; inadequate information especially regarding market opportunities across borders; and existing international trade policy frameworks and regulations that are less suited for the MSMEs; lack of facilities needed to comply with such border measures; limited access to competitively priced and internationally acceptable inputs; and lack of access to financing thus imposing significant barriers to MSME expansion.
The Bogor Goals set the target of free and open trade and investment in the APEC region. Over the years, numerous initiatives in APEC have been undertaken to promote free and open trade and investments, and to deepen regional economic integration. These have produced benefits in many ways in the form of increased levels of trade, greater cross border investment flows, and expanded choices for the consumers. It is important, however, to ensure that the work being done to promote free and open trade is as relevant to MSMEs as they are to bigger businesses.
The "APEC MSME Marketplace" is an interactive repository of APEC activities and member economies' individual efforts as a tool to promote cooperation and linkages across MSMEs and other stakeholders with interest in MSME development. The initiative is an online portal which has the following functionalities: facilitating business matching for MSMEs, funders, innovation centers, incubators, and other stakeholders with interest on MSME development; providing information about international trade standards and regulations; disseminating information on available trade promotion assistance packages that APEC economies individually or collectively provide for MSME development and internationalization; and building networks and linkages among the MSMEs, academe, innovation centers, and other relevant stakeholders that have a shared interest to foster MSME participation in regional and global supply chains and markets may face as they participate in global trade.
This pillar responds to the need of MSMEs for information on trade-related measures and standards by economy. There are several sources of this information such as the APEC Trade Repository (APECTR), the WTO International Trade Information Portal (I-TIP)2 and the International Trade Centre's Market Access Map or MacMAP3.
This pillar will provide a platform for information sharing on key development and experiences of MSMEs in the context of global value chains, production and cross-border supply chains. This portal can help inspire partnerships, innovation, and linkages between MSMEs and LEs, thus increasing the potential and avenues for MSME internationalization. This will feature stories or cases featuring transformative partnerships on how MSMEs have been engaged by LEs and exporters in their value chains. This pillar will feature information on inclusive business models, cases of successful MSMEs export businesses, lessons extracted from successful experiences of internationalization and, cooperation among economies, between public and private sectors, and international organizations that helped hurdle barriers of MSMEs or advance their participation in global trade and value chain participation.