QALA-E-NAW, Afghanistan -- "My prime objective is to provide job opportunities for our people and today I am happy that some 100 persons including women have been hired in the pistachio processing plant to earn a livelihood," head and the owner of the plant, Yaser Ali spoke joyfully.

This is the first time that a pistachio processing plant has been established in the poor and insurgency-plagued Badghis province of the conflict-battered Afghanistan. (Afghanistan-Entrepreneur)

- - - -

KUALA LUMPUR -- Entrepreneurial ministers and representatives of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies on Friday pledged greater support for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) which have been hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak.

"Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are crucial to the socioeconomic development of our economies, contributing 40 to 60 percent to gross domestic product (GDP) and employing a significant part of the workforce in APEC economies," the ministers said in a joint statement issued after an APEC SME Ministerial Meeting chaired by Malaysian Entrepreneur Development And Co-operatives Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. (APEC-MSMEs)

- - - -

COLOMBO -- Sri Lanka earned a total of 9.7 billion U.S. dollars from the exports of merchandise and services from January to September, the local media reported Friday.

Citing a report from the Export Development Board (EDB), the media reports said Sri Lanka's export revenue in the first nine months of this year was 17.7 percent lower than a year earlier, largely due to the COVID-9-induced shocks. (Sri Lanka-Export)

- - - -

SINGAPORE -- Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a joint press release on Friday that Singapore's consumer price index for all items (CPI-All Items) inflation rose from -0.4 percent in August to zero in September.

This brings an end to a consecutive five months of negative CPI-All Items inflation for Singapore. The two authorities attribute the rise largely to a more gradual decrease in private transport costs. (Singapore-CPI)

- - - -

CANBERRA -- Australia's outgoing finance minister has backed a "green recovery" from the coronavirus crisis as he campaigns to lead the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Mathias Cormann, the longest-serving Minister for Finance in Australian history, told a virtual business conference organized by the German government that he supported pursuing "a green recovery with an increased reliance on renewables" in the wake of the pandemic. (Canberra-Australia-OECD)

GUANGZHOU -- Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao will strengthen cooperation in building a "highland" for the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) sector, according to an official plan unveiled on Thursday.

The plan was jointly released by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the office of the leading group for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the provincial government of Guangdong. (China-Medicines-TCM)