KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 (Bernama) — The concerns of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be taken into account once the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) is implemented.SME Corp Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Hafsah Hashim, said the TPP, now being negotiated by 12 countries, will take the Malaysian SMEs on board first.

“There is a chapter on SMEs whereby the negotiators will talk about capacity-building programmes to be built into into it (agreement) to ensure SMEs of participating countries will be ready when TPP comes into effect,” she said.

Hafsah said this at a media briefing after the launch of Carol Fung’s book, ‘Guide to the Business of Online Retailing’, here Friday.

She said SMEs should not worry as the government will make sure that the domestic and local companies’ concerns were taken on board.

On whether local companies were adequately prepared for the TPP, she said by 2015, the whole of Asean will be going for zero-tariff trade and they will be prepared by then.

“We want to make sure the SMEs do not lose out when all these things set in,” said Hafsah.

The countries participating in the TPP negotiations are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Japan, Singapore, US and Vietnam.

– BERNAMA