ASEAN agrees to provide financing access, sets standard for SMEs*****

JAKARTA, May 8 (Xinhua): Trade ministers of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to provide access to financing and to set product standard for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), a minister said here Sunday. "Related to SMEs, we have agreed on several things. There are some recommendations that were submitted in symposiums a few days ago that we will focus on access to financing and standard," Indonesia's Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu told journalists in the side line of the 18th ASEAN Summit. She said that every country has its own problem and policy for their SMEs. "So, we have to make difference between national policy and regional policy to help the sector. In regional policy, what must we do? So, we agreed that we will help SMEs that are ready to export their products. We will find them export financing," she said. Besides, she said, trade ministers also agreed on how SMEs could take benefit of the ASEAN single market.