KOTA BHARU, Oct 6 (Bernama) -- Small Medium Enterprise (SME)entrepreneurs in the country have been urged to adopt the e-commerce application to effectively compete in business.

Deputy International Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan said the SME portal service had been created to facilitate the use of e-commerce by SMEs.

"It is a website that functions as a one-stop centre for information related to SMEs and includes among others, information on financing, investments, sales and marketing, enhancing quality of products, licensing, registration and permits," he added.

Ahmad told reporters this at a briefing session on the ASEAN Economic Community and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, for entrepreneurs in the state here last night.

He said through the concept of e-commerce, SMEs can obtain fast and reliable information as well as develop wider business networking.

According to Ahmad, it is estimated that to date, there are about 600,000 SME entrepreneurs throughout the country and the number using the e-commerce application was still small.

He said his ministry will step up efforts to get more SMEs to use the application via various programmes, including seminars, before year-end.

He added that the SME service portal, www.smeinfo.com.my, forged by SME Corp Malaysia had also information related to the types of services offered by Miti and related agencies.

Ahmad said SME entrepreneurs in Malaysia need to grab the opportunities offered through the "APEC MSME Marketplace" portal to be created.

The portal will provide access to business related information which can spur the growth of SMEs in the Asia Pacific region and globally.

"The entrepreneurs must also reach out for the opportunities from the ASEAN SME Services Portal to be officially launched during the ASEAN Summit on Nov 20-21," he added.

-- BERNAMA