The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC) welcomes the just-released report of the government SME Committee. We support the principle of the report which is to ensure that there is a level playing field and an adequate infrastructure--both soft and hard--for Hong Kong SMEs to survive and to compete. The four funding schemes mentioned in the report will all work towards this goal of helping the SMEs prepare themselves for new challenges post-financial crisis.

"More importantly," Mr. Cheng added: "This should show the SMEs that the government is very concerned about their competitiveness in a still-difficult business environment. Actually, the Chamber feels that the recommendations should have included the establishment of a senior position right in the Financial Secretary's office to assist the SMEs to work through many coordination problems caused by the current government bureaucracy. Such a post would really be very symbolic and encouraging to the 298,000 SMEs in Hong Kong."

The Chamber welcomes the Committee's recommendations in the areas of business environment, financing, corporate governance, human resources, technology and market expansion. We note however that a number of pertinent issues such as the need for de-regulation, how to tackle challenges of globalization and China getting into the WTO were not addressed by the Report. HKGCC Director, Dr Eden Woon, said that "the Chamber will work to improve and increase its training programs and its provision of information to members and others in the HK business community on the specific issues of adjusting to the new 21^st century business environment."