-- a Commonwealth Perspective

Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs)

Delegates underscored the significance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to the economic growth and job creation of all Commonwealth countries and taking cognizance of the limited human and financial resources of such enterprises, urged Commonwealth governments to develop special programmes for their support in the application of ICTs in trade.

Delegates observed that access to information and communications technologies was especially important for enterprises in countries lagging in development, as such access could assist those firms to gain information about global opportunities and entry to world markets and to this end proposed that the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation of the Commonwealth Secretariat provide additional support to those countries and to their enterprise sector through the provision of Commonwealth experts. The objective of such efforts should be to permit such enterprises to catch-up with the development in more advanced economies, and to ready them for the introduction of electronic commerce.

Delegates agreed that information and communications technologies were subject to very rapid development and change, and to a myriad of efforts from national, private and public sectors, international agencies and organizations. In that regard, although it was recognized that it would be difficult to ensure coordination and eliminate overlap, Delegates urged the Commonwealth Secretariat to establish a process by which it maintained close relationships with the many other agencies active in this area. In this regard, special mention was made of the GIIS, UNCTAD, ITC, IBCC, the UN Economic Commissions and the EU. It was assumed that facilitation in this area would be an important continuing function for COMNET-IT