Toronto (VNA) – Participants in the third meeting ofthe APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC III) took part in various roundtablediscussions and symposiums on July 25, the event’s second working day, focusingon finance and business development in the era of innovation anddigitalisation.

Delegations from the 21 APEC economies,including representatives of enterprises, organisations and institutions,shared experience and put forth numerous proposals. 

Most of them stressed the role of financialresources, public-private partnership and application of digital technologiesin supporting business development, promoting innovation, creativity and tradein goods and services, and investing in long-term infrastructure projects inthe future.

Speaking at the APEC-Canada Growing BusinessPartnership Symposium (ABACx), ABAC Vietnam Chairman Hoang Van Dung emphasised themassive impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which will generateopportunities for businesses, particularly micro, small- and medium-sizedenterprises (MSMEs), to engage in global trade, increase their competitiveness,innovate and access markets. The Industry 4.0 will also help them optimisecomparative advantages, deal with trade barriers and produce goods at lowerexpenses. 

However, there are obstacles hampering MSMEs’access to those chances, he noted.

Therefore, ABAC calls for the building of aprogressive e-commerce policy framework across the APEC region to boostbusinesses’ access to and application of digital technologies and help themgain comprehensive access to databases in the region and the world.

Dung added ABAC also wants to set up programmeson building MSMEs’ online and offline e-commerce capacity.

At a roundtable discussion on expandingtrans-Pacific infrastructure investment opportunities, participants said manygovernments are facing financial problems while the infrastructure investmentdemand is forecast to rise to about 5 trillion USD each year from now to 2030.The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates this demand in Asia alone amounts toabout 1.7 trillion USD per year. Hence, the private sector will hold anincreasing role, helping to meet the infrastructure investment demand.

However, to make use of that opportunity,countries, especially the developing ones, will have to handle an array ofchallenges relating to the public sector’s capacity, the bond and insurancemarkets, investment climate and the ability to pay for infrastructure projects.

Donald W. Campbell, Co-Chair of the PacificEconomic Cooperation Council, said the promotion of long-term infrastructureinvestment projects through cooperation and creativity is necessary tofacilitate the flow of investment capital. It needs the participation ofgovernments, multilateral development banks, private investors and financialinstitutions.

ABAC III is taking place in Canada from July 24to 28. It is the last meeting before the member economies submit importantrecommendations to APEC leaders at the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, slatedfor this November in Vietnam.-VNA