ASEAN Affairs: Launching of ASEAN SME Academy 2.0

The US-ASEAN Business Council, USAID and ASEAN launched the SME Academy 2.0, an upgraded version of the online learning platform, to support ASEAN Economic Recovery.

Union Minister for Hotels and Tourism Dr. Htay Aung attended the launching ceremony via video conferencing. Themed “Adapt, Upskill, Excel: Building ASEAN SMEs’ Resilience with the ASEAN SME Academy 2.0,” the launch is the climax of a revamp project that began in 2021, aimed to introduce and publicise the upgrades and new features of the ASEAN SME Academy 2.0 website.

Aiming to reach more micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and help accelerate their businesses recoveries, SME Academy 2.0 introduces many new features including courses available in local languages (Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, and Vietnamese), new attractive visual design features, and top-quality resources including specific modules for COVID-19 recovery.

Via video conferencing, the Union Minister also inspected preparations at information counters in Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay, Heho, Kengtung, Dawei, Sittwe and Pathein and stressed the importance of readiness, better services for local and foreign travelers, cooperation and adherence to the COVID-19 prevention guidelines.