From early next year, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be able to register their business with provincial governments, an initiative aimed at promoting business registration in Cambodia. Oum Sotha, spokesman of Ministry of Industry and Handicraft, said the decentralization would help speed up the registration process as well as giving authorities the ability to quickly inspect business operations. According to the ministry data, only 221 SMEs registered with the government by the end of November, bringing the total to 39,362, while the ministry believe there are approximately 100,000 SMEs operating in Cambodia. Te Taing Por, president of Federation of Association for Small- and Medium-Size Enterprises of Cambodia (Fasmec), said that while a decentralized system was good, the government has repeatedly fallen short of developing a dedicated SME policy for the whole sector. (Source: Phnom Penh Post)