The 34th ATPF CEO Meeting held online

October 26, 2021

During the meeting, participant TPOs presented and discussed about their endeavors to respond to the new era, such as strategies to support SMEs through digitalization. In Session 1 of the plenary meeting, under the theme of "Potential Industrial Sectors & Strategic Efforts under the prolonged pandemic," three TPOs, including JETRO and DGNED, reported on industries experiencing remarkable growth amid the corona crisis and new support programs utilizing digital technology. JETRO Chairman and CEO Sasaki introduced accomplishments of JETRO’s new support schemes using digital technology, such as Japan Street, as well as issues JETRO has faced in its schemes and how it has responded to them. He shared the experiences of his organization over the year with the other member TPOs.

The following Session 2 was held under the theme of "Supporting SMEs in Optimizing E-commerce technology ". Recognizing that responding to e-commerce market, which is gradually playing a major role in business, is a current issue for SMEs, five organizations announced the endeavors and support that each is promoting. They reported on specific activities designed to allow SMEs to accelerate business through e-commerce, such as a function for customizing webpages on their online platform, providing access log data and enabling automated translation.

In addition, the ATPF Secretariat (JETRO) reported on the outcomes of the ATPF Working-Level Meeting held in July. At the plenary session, participant TPOs approved the continued implementation of joint projects through digital technology that had been agreed upon at the Working-Level Meeting. Furthermore, the ATPF Exhibition Industry Committee (AEIC, Secretariat: JETRO) reported on a plan for exhibiting at the International Food and Hospitality Fair (AAHAR) in India as a joint exhibition project in March 2023. In line with this, the host organization, the India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) gave an explanation on AAHAR.