Over 1,500 entrepreneurs to meet at the APEC 2010 SME Summit

(Lima, July 22, 2010). COMEXPERU, in its capacity as the National Secretariat of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), will hold the APEC Summit of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) 2010 on August 12 in the Sheraton Hotel. The aim of the Summit is to carry the message of APEC to the SMEs and equip them with the knowledge they need to internationalize.

"This year we are expecting 1,500 participants, mostly SME business owners, with the aim ?? of equipping them with the tools needed to reach world markets, find solutions to obstacles to efficient operation, know where and what type of financing to apply for, learn how to benefit from opportunities in e-commerce including how to make a successful website, among other things; in short, to be competitive and contribute to the Peruvian economy," COMEXPERU CEO Patricia Teullet said.

"With this event, COMEXPERU is contributing to improving the competitiveness of this important sector of our economy and increasing the number of Peruvians who benefit from foreign trade", she added.

CAF director representative in Peru Eleonora Silva said the multilateral development bank was supporting the SME Summit for the third year running because 95% of domestic enterprises are SMEs, which employ 76% of the population.

CAF is committed to supporting this important productive sector because as it enters the formal economy and receives the required tools, it will be more successful in responding to the challenge of internationalization, she added.

COMEXPERU has opened a webpage on the Summit: www.pymeapec.org with details of the program, which includes keynote presentations by Jack Ma, president of the Alibaba Group, world leader in business-to-business e-commerce; and Jos Mara Quirs, the leading exponent in the SME specialty in Argentina.

The SME Summit sponsored by CAF and IDB will also be attended by Jos Nicanor Gonzales Quijano, minister of Industry; Jos Luis Chicoma, vice minister of MSMEs and Industry; Carlos Chiappori Samengo, Summit president; Hernando Guerra Garcia, president of the Board of Somos Empresa and vice president of the APRENDA Institute; Christian Aguilar, general manager of Alpaca House; Eduardo Acua Umbert, general manager of Idakoos.com; Juan Carlos Mathews, director of export promotion, PROMPERU; and Miguel Cabello Arroyo, coordinator of the Alibaba-IDB-COMEXPERU Project.

COMEXPERU is an association which brings together the leading export, import and service companies involved in foreign trade in Peru. It is also responsible for the National Secretariat of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and for organizing the 2010 APEC SME Summit. The objective of COMEXPERU is to unite efforts to achieve national development, giving priority to lines of action which promote foreign trade and stimulate private investment in a free market economy, always working for the competitiveness of Peruvian companies.