Asean Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises Urged To Form Tie-Ups

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- The Asean Business Advisory Council (Asean-BAC) has urged Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to partner other MSMEs within the Asean region to take a bigger share of the market. MSMEs form the backbone of the Asean economy with an estimated 60 million of them forming 95-99 per cent of all registered enterprises. Asean-BAC member Ramesh Kodammal said growth within the Asean region should be a concept or idea that needs to be cultivated. "Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are interested but they might encounter problems and fear penetrating other markets, although a number of Malaysian SMEs are already in Asean. "If you look for the right partners, you can find them. There might be challenges but the opportunities are also great," he told reporters at the 'Asean-BAC Malaysia Conference on SMEs and the Asean Economic Community (AEC)' here Thursday. "What we need to explain to the SMEs is for opportunities to merge and move into bigger markets, to have greater strength amongst themselves and move forward," Ramesh said. Meanwhile, 2015 Asean-BAC Chairman Dr Munir Majid said while Asean private sector companies complain that barriers to a free and open market continue to exist, MSMEs express fear of being overwhelmed by that free and open market. "Actually, there is a complementarity between dissatisfaction and fear. The efficient from both sides of the divide will benefit," Munir said, citing the proposed Asean open sky agreement which has led to more passengers and freight carried as well as airports expanded. Not all MSMEs, however, will benefit from the 600 million-strong Asean market and the growing markets in East Asia with which Asean has free trade agreements (FTAs), he added. -- BERNAMA