Mekong Institute participated in a forum organized by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) on March 23, 2018 in Singapore. Trade and Investment Facilitation Director Mr. Madhurjya Kumar Dutta joined the panel session on ‘Integration of ASEAN SMEs into Global Markets’ where he shared MI’s project initiatives to facilitate SME integration in regional and global value chains, pointing out challenges, prospects and recommendations for SME promotion for broader value chain integration.

In another session on ‘Updates and Insights from IDRC Projects,’ Mr. Dutta also presented the experiences, lessons learned and best practices of MI’s one-year IDRC-funded project on ‘Promoting Women Entrepreneurship for Export Business.’ He underscored suggestions for promoting export readiness and sustainable export business for women-led enterprises.

The event was organized in collaboration with Grow Asia to showcase IDRC’s work on trade and value chains in the ASEAN. Mr. Dutta also joined the 4th Canada ASEAN Business (CABC) Forum held earlier on March 21-22. The CABC Forum set out to advance Canada’s profile and strategic trade interest with the ASEAN member-states and promote information sharing on investment opportunities in both ASEAN and Canada.