APEC 2015 has SME and women's economic empowerment as priorities

see the attached opening speech of the Ambassador at the Symposium on APEC 2015 Priorities, at which I spoke today.   Other speakers from the Philippines and APEC emphasized the importance of reaching out to women entrepreneurs.  The US Department of Commerce senior official who's taken over the chair of the APEC SME Working Group for 2015/16 plans some exciting meetings on global supply chains, too.  with Turkey and the G20/B20 agenda also with a strong SME focus, looks like it's going to be a busy year for the SME Finance Forum! matt