Tap Govt resources to expand abroad, Abdullah tells SMEs

[ 08-06-2007 ]

Tap Govt resources to expand abroad, Abdullah tells SMEs

Tap govt resources to expand abroad, Abdullah tells SMEs
By Azlan Abu Bakar
alan@nstp.com.my

Business Times (New Straits Time)
Thursday June 7, 2007

SMALL and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) should take advantage of
government resources such as overseas trade offices as a key source of
market intelligence to expand abroad, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

He said the lack of overseas expertise and contacts are among the major
factors which affect local small and medium-sized enterprises' (SME)
ability to penetrate the international market.

"This is further made worse by a lack of resource to external funding as
well as insufficient manpower for overseas expansion," Abdullah said at
the official opening of SMIDEX 2007 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Abdullah said it should be noted that Ministry of International Trade
and Industry, Malaysia External Trade Development Corp and Malaysian
Industrial Development Authority has a total of 58 offices overseas
which can be used to facilitate the expansion of SMEs beyond the
domestic market.

He said for 2007 alone, a total of 190 programmes with a total financial
commitment of RM3.7 billion are being implemented, focusing on building
the capabilities of SMEs, strengthening the enabling infrastructure and
enhancing access to finance.

"Through effective implementation of these programmes, it is projected
that SME's contribution to the country's gross domestic product will
increase from 32 per cent to 37 per cent by 2010," he said.

He said in tandem with this, total employment by the sector is targeted
to increase to 57 per cent and total exports to increase to 22 per cent.

Abdullah said while financing is critical in ensuring the
competitiveness of SMEs, it is not the sole factor that determines
viability.

He said the growth of existing and new businesses will be increasingly
driven by technology and innovation.

Thus, the capacity to conduct research and development and the ability
to innovate are key elements in ensuring long-term growth.

Going forward, Abdullah said, he expects the growth momentum will be
underpinned not only by higher earnings from large corporations, but
also from increased contributions from the SME sector.

On SMIDEX, business deals worth more than RM27.64 million were sealed on
the first day of the business matching session at SMIDEX 2007 compared
to only RM19.2 million for the whole duration of the event last year.

A total of 54 business matching has so far been conducted involving 14
multinational companies, four foreign firms and 19 local small and
medium-sized companies.

In 2006, a total of 200 sessions were conducted during the four-day event.

The event has attracted more than 300 companies with a total of 434
booths. About 8,000 people are expected to visit the four-day event.