MANILA, Philippines - SME experts from Asia and the Pacific recently held their third roundtable discussion to finalize plans for setting up a regional SME Knowledge and Finance Center in the Philippines. The center, which is the first to be set up in Asia, was conceptualized to address the lack of access to formal finance of SMEs, not just in the Philippines but in neighboring Asian countries as well.
The SME Knowledge and Finance Center is being spearheaded by the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP), the Geneva-based International Trade Center UNCTAD/WTO (ITC), International Institute for Trade and Development (ITD) of Thailand and Planters Development Bank, the country’s lead bank for SMEs.
Among those present during the two-day meeting were Roger Megelas, senior adviser for the International Trade Center UNCTAD/WTO (ITC); Datuk Mohd. Radzif bin Mohammad Yunus, managing director of SME Bank Malaysia; Vikram Singh Rathore, executive director of the Small Industries Development Bank of India; and Ambassador Jesus P. Tambunting, chairman and president of Plantersbank.