A workshop was held in Singapore on May 4 to discuss ways to improve competitiveness among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Asian-Pacific region amid global integration.

The workshop, organised by the Singaporean Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, drew specialists from Australia , China , Indonesia , Republic of Korea , Singapore , and Vietnam to attend.

At the workshop, participants focused on how competition laws and regulations affect SMEs in each country in the Asia-Pacific.

The majority agreed that it is necessary to harmonise competition laws and regulations among regional members, creating more favourable environments and conditions for SMEs.

For Vietnam , the birth of SME Laws as well as the establishment of the Fund for supporting SMEs yielded positive results, said Le Cong Luyen Viet from the Australian Swinburne University of Technology.

Yet he noted the need to take each type of business and enterprise into account.-VNA