At the 34th Meeting of the ASEAN SME Agencies Working Group (SMEWG) in Manila, Philippines, the final report titled "ASEAN SME Policy Index 2014 - Towards Competitive and Innovative ASEAN SMEs" was officially handed over.

Mr. Yasushi Iwata, General Manager of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), and Mr. Antonio Fanelli, Deputy Director of Global Relation Secretariat, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), officially handed over the final report titled "ASEAN SME Policy Index 2014 - Towards Competitive and Innovative ASEAN SMEs" to Mr. Ted Tan, Deputy Executive of SPRING, Singapore and Chair of the ASEAN SMEWG for 2014-15, with the presence of Hon. Blesila A. Lantayona, Assistant Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry, Republic of the Philippines.

In his speech, Mr. Iwata acknowledged the support of the ASEAN SMEWG, the ASEAN Secretariat, and the OECD in the completion of the report. He stressed that the report is the product of the ASEAN SMEWG, and hoped that its findings and recommendations will help ASEAN countries to successfully implement their SME policy and make the region's SMEs more competitive, innovative, and resilient as they join in the process of building the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 and beyond.

"I sincerely hope that you will all exert great efforts to achieve the best practice stage of SME development", Mr. Iwata encouraged the participants. He also committed to continue ERIA's close collaboration with the AMSs and the ASEAN Secretariat to produce practical policy recommendations that aim to benefit the region tremendously.

For his part, Mr. Tan expressed his appreciation to ERIA and OECD for the submission of the report which will serve as input in the preparation of the ASEAN Strategic Plan for SME Development post 2015. Meanwhile, at the sidelight of the official meeting of the ASEAN SMEWG, the OECD and ERIA, together with the ASEAN SMEWG and ASEAN Secretariat, held joint regional workshops to discuss the findings and recommendations of the report as well as a separate session to discuss ways forward for the Philippines.