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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

EU supports Serbian SME sector with €1.5m

Belgrade, 26 November 2008

State Secretary for Regional Development at the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development Dejan Jovanovic presented the results of the €1.5m project, “EU’s Technical Support to Company Development Policy”.

Jovanovic said that the aim of this project is to strengthen national and regional institutions for the development of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

The project, which started on September 1, will last until August 31, 2010 and will encompass 150 enterprises, he said.

Jovanovic said that the aim of the project is to help realise the strategy for the development of SMEs competitiveness from 2008 to 2013.

Project manager Stephen O’Mullane said that the criteria for choosing the 150 SMEs that will participate in the project will be set up by the end of this week.

He said that the main goal of the project is to support the development of the market economy and social, economic and regional unity by developing a competitive and innovative private sector, as well as the strengthening of the government institutions that monitor SMEs development, such as the Agency for SMEs and Entrepreneurship Development and the SMEs Council.

Assistant Minister of Economy and Regional Development Igor Brkanovic announced that Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Enterprise and Industry Gunter Verheugen is arriving in Belgrade tomorrow, where he will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Serbia’s participation in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (EIP), with the Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic.

Dinkic will open the entrepreneurship fair Biznis Baza on November 27, while a regional meeting of national coordinators responsible for the implementation of the European Charter for SMEs will be held from December 1 to 2 in Belgrade.

The Assistant Minister pointed out that an international conference regarding the innovation of SMEs will also be held on December 2.

The European Commission’s project manager Dejan Suvakov recalled that the European Commission has already invested approximately €1,3 billion in Serbia, out of which €55 million has been allocated to SMEs, including €15 million in loans.