The second panelist presented the OECD Bologna Process on SME and entrepreneurship policies.

November 2003 Panelist at Gender Poverty Summit in New Delhi organized by Women's Political Watch and UNDP.

The third panelist highlighted the trends and development of FDI inflows and outflows in the Asia Pacific region.

The panelist also highlighted the lack of reliable SME statistics and the existence of an OECD action plan to advance this area.

The third panelist addressed the main obstacles to SME development in sub Saharan Africa from the point of view of the private sector.

The concluding panelist presented the internationalization strategy of a large firm from a developing country, including the motives, benefits and challenges of OFDI.

The Federation attended the special session and sponsored a young student who was a panelist in an NGO side event for this special session (Girls Speak Out).

Addressing the problem of finance, the panelist highlighted the importance of providing SMEs with trade finance and not only with micro finance, which was often restricted to domestic use.

The second panelist discussed the role of a private sector organization in promoting partnerships in private sector development in the context of South South cooperation, specifically between SMEs from Africa and Asia.

After emphasizing the importance of SMEs in OECD countries, the panelist stressed that in all economies, regardless of their economic status, SMEs faced three common challenges access to finance, access to innovation and access to international markets.

The first panelist presented the efforts made in his country in the area of SME development, which included investment in education and infrastructure, the introduction of a new legal and fiscal framework, and the improvement of private and public banking.

The panelist also referred to the importance of the Government's cooperation with the private sector and the international community. In particular, he mentioned the usefulness of the joint UNDP Chevron Texaco programme as part of the country's enterprise development agenda, with UNCTAD's active involvement.

The first panelist stressed the importance of private sector development in contributing to the realization of the Millennium Development Goals, underlining the thrust of a report released recently by UNDP that suggested a number of initiatives for engaging the poor as consumers and entrepreneurs.

A number of suggestions were made by the panelist to promote FDI by SMEs, including the need to study home and host country measures, examine the determinants and drivers of FDI by SMEs, and establish programmes to foster policy dialogue that promoted South South FDI.

In responding to a question, the panelist explained that his company had a strong linkage programme with SMEs, both in the country as well as abroad. This was done by encouraging its supplier SMEs to go abroad where the firm operated and through outsourcing.

Stressing the importance of international cooperation on SME development, the panelist referred to the recently signed OECD UNCTAD Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in this area between the two organizations, including a joint project in the area of global value chains and their effect on SMEs competitiveness.