Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation member economies have praised the Government's outreach work in understanding and meeting the needs of small and medium enterprises.

Speaking at the 14th APEC SME Ministerial Meeting on March 8 and 9 in Hobart, Australia, Director-General of Trade & Industry Joseph Lai said Hong Kong has a favourable business environment, underpinned by the rule of law, an independent judiciary, free flow of capital and information, a low and simple tax regime, and a clean and efficient government.

"Under our 'Market Leads, Government Facilitates' policy, we are committed to making it easy to start and run a business in Hong Kong," he said. "We are gearing ourselves for the 'Be the Smart Regulator' programme, which is a new round of our concerted efforts to further simplify our regulatory regime."

Mr Lai also said Hong Kong has always attached importance to the provision of an enabling environment for the development of high value-added and technology-based industries and services.

In the Joint Ministerial Statement issued after the meetings, ministers encouraged member economies to make every effort to develop and implement specific measures to improve their competitiveness, innovation and entrepreneurship.