Regional Small Business Meeting Calls for More Action
The region's private sector stakeholders have called for more concerted efforts to advance Small, Medium and
Micro-Enterprise (SMME) development across the Pacific.
The plea was to Governments, regional organisations and development partners, in partnership with the private sector, to
turn high-level mandates and recommendations pertaining to SMME development into action.
This was highlighted at the recent Regional SMME Forum, attended in Samoa by over 130 representatives from throughout
the region, including SMME practitioners and senior officials from Governments, trade promotion agencies and development
partners.
The meeting was organised by the Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation (PIPSO) in partnership with the Pacific
Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), the Government of Samoa and the Samoa Chamber of Commerce, with funding support from
the ACP Business Climate Facility (BizClim) in Brussels.
Mr James Movick, Chair of PIPSO, highlighted that the participants reiterated their concerns on long standing issues
such as unfriendly policy environments, weak infrastructure facilities particularly in relation to air, land and sea
transportation, poor access to finance especially at the business start-up phase and the lack of in-country
institutional capacity to support SMME development.
"It was generally agreed that these issues could be addressed effectively through a shared commitment to foster SMME
growth through public/private dialogue and partnerships, which was consistent with the theme of the meeting, Building
Opportunities Together", Mr Movick said.
To enhance the delivery of services to SMMEs and the entire private sector through each island country's National
Private Sector Organisation (NPSO), development partners were urged to support the strengthening of the interim PIPSO
Secretariat that is based in Suva as well as of the national private sector organisations in each Pacific Islands
Country.
"The Secretariat obviously needs technical and funding resources that would support programmes designed at benefitting
the region's private sector, including SMMEs and informal producers," said Mr Movick.
"We would like to ensure that there is appropriate capacity, improved access to and wider usage of communications to
boost regional-level dialogue processes that would guide policy makers and key partners in helping to bring about
tangible benefits to those who are trying to generate income and make a decent living from entrepreneurship and related
enterprising ventures".
Mr Movick added that opportunities for networking, sharing of experiences as well as business matchmaking during the
SMME Forum were widely appreciated by the participants.
He also acknowledged the assistance of the European Union through BizClim in providing funding resources for the meeting
as well as the presence of numerous development partners that have a direct interest in regional SMME development.
A draft policy statement that was discussed at the end of the meeting to guide regional efforts in SMME development in
the Pacific is expected to be finalised within the next week.
ENDS