BIG SKY (Montana): The Apec Business Advisory Council or Abac has urged trade ministers to improve regional economic integration through a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP)- One of its recommendation towards such pact is for improved integrated supply and value chains which reflect the way business is now increasingly being done in the region- The business leaders representing the 21 Apec economies are also concerned with the slow recovery of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the region- Towards this end, they have called for improvement in the transparency and efficiency of the legal and regulatory environment for investment and effective mechanisms to expedite approval processes and the resolution of disputes- On the failure of the Doha Development Round, Abac has pressed Apec to help bridge the gaps and to give negotiators the flexibility to deliver an ambitious and commercially meaningful outcome- Abac has identified and will provide recommendations to ministers on addressing what it sees as the top four barriers to cross-border trade for SMEs, which include lack of capacity to internationalise and their inability to protect intellectual property rights- "Taking Apec as a whole, SMEs make up roughly 90 per cent of all businesses and employ nearly 60 per cent of the work force, but they only account for around 30 per cent of exports- "It is critical that Apec SME Ministers take strong action to help these companies to increase their reach across borders," said Deb Henretta, Abac chair and Procter & Gamble group president for Asia- ...

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