KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 – Local small and medium entreprises (SMEs) should leverage on the market access offered under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement given the the government has already put in place a safety net to help them venture abroad.
Dispelling the misperception that 30 per cent or 195,000 SMEs ‘will disappear’ after the TPP, Institue of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Fellow Firdaos Rosli said the agreement also provides cost-efficiency for SMEs to export. He said the government can provide some form of support or safety net, like SME Corporation’s loans and Human Resources Development Fund.
“There are also other means of support, but our SMEs have to be more proactive. The TPP would benefit Malaysia by wooing investments from technologically advanced countries, thus helping the country achieve its aspirations for developed nation status by 2020,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the second day of a special session on the TPP at the Dewan Rakyat here Wednesday.
“The 12-nation agreement would not affect investments from China, and in fact the investment volume is actually increasing. We are too small to choose our friends, so we have to be friends with everyone. Signing the TPP, which includes the United States, does not mean we are sidelining China. In fact, we are upgrading our trade agreement with the Republic,” Firdaos added.
