ASEAN region deemed key territory for US corporations

CEBU, Philippines – The US-ASEAN Business Council has expressed optimism on the ASEAN economic integration, saying the region is an essential territory of its US-based member companies.

In an interview with reporters last week, Elizabeth Magsaysay-Crébassa, senior country representative for the Philippines of the US-ABC, said the council’s global members have been interested on ASEAN small and medium enterprises which are “considered potential customers, suppliers and partners in the future.”

US corporations, she said, have always considered ASEAN as an extension of their their local territory with an interest of pushing SME development in the 10-member region.

Some leading members of the 30-year-old trade advocacy council were in Cebu last week for a training for SMEs on good business practices.

Crébassa shared the workshop for SMEs started 2011 as an answer to the request from the ASEAN economic ministers to have such initiative.

The goal, she added, is to drive up the trade and investment opportunities of US firms in the Southeast Asia region.

Currently, US-ABC has 160 US member companies and 70 of them have presence in the Philippines, the official noted.

Last year, the US-ABC formed the Business Alliance for Competitive SMEs with the US Agency for International Development to increase US economic engagement and cooperation with ASEAN nations.

The country representative also said there is a need to support the SME sector to become competitive in the domestic market and be part of global supply chain. 

Access to funding

To be competitive, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice president for Visayas Jose Ng said access to funding should be made more available because it remains a setback in the sector’s growth.

Ng said in the same interview that SMEs should have easy access to financing from local lenders for enterprise expansion.

In reaction, Department of Trade and Industry-7 Director Asteria Caberte claimed fund access is the most challenging area among the DTI’s four components of SME assistance including access to market, productivity and enabling environment for enterprises.

“A lot of strides are happening to address this problem in financing,” she said, adding that banks are mandated to allot 10% of their loan portfolio for SMEs.

To ultimately help the sector, banks and the government must do more in making financial access easy for the small players.

Ng said the sector needs more programs especially in financing.