[Index]
Towards a Unified SME-Policy Guideline
Eleven BSEC Ministers adopt a Declaration on SMEs
at the Dawn of the 21st Century in Istanbul
Geneva, 5 October 2001
At a meeting of the Ministers of the Organization of the
Black Sea Economic Co-operation (BSEC) responsible for small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs), held on 27 September 2001 in Istanbul, eleven BSEC
Ministers adopted a Declaration on SMEs at the Dawn of the 21st Century in
Istanbul. The meeting was organized jointly by the Ministry of Industry and
Trade of Turkey, the Permanent International Secretariat of the BSEC, the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Turkish
Representative of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
The main elements of the BSEC Declaration on SMEs at the
Dawn of the 21st Century include:
creation of a favourable enabling business
environment;
improvement of legislation and regulation;
improvement of supporting infrastructure;
providing diversified financial systems for SMEs;
strengthening the technological capacity of SMEs;
strengthening the investment in the whole BSEC
region, especially for SMEs, through BSEC Investment Initiative;
human resource development;
increase quality awareness to overcome technical
difficulties to trade;
developing stronger, more effective representation of
SMEs through public-private dialogue, NGOs and women entrepreneurship;
creation of a BSEC Working Group on SMEs for
systematic exchange of information, best practices and harmonization of
action towards the whole-pledge market economy and knowledge based
society.
The BSEC Declaration on SMEs is the second Declaration on
SMEs prepared within the framework of the Regional Advisory Services Programme
of the UNECE. With the adoption of the Central European Initiative (CEI)
Declaration in November 2000 in Budapest and the Istanbul BSEC
Declaration, 23 countries out of the 55 ECE member States are formulating
their national SME policy based on the suggestions of the UNECE. The
Commission is currently working on the extension of the BSEC Declaration for
the Commonwealth of Independent States in cooperation with the CIS
Consultative Committee on Small Entrepreneurship. Upcoming Forums on Best
Practice in Development of Entrepreneurship and SMEs in Countries in
Transition include the Polish and Belarusian Experiences, which will be held
at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on 23 and 24 October 2001, respectively.
They will provide a good opportunity to discuss the modalities of
implementation of the CEI and BSEC Declarations.
For further information please contact:
Antal Szabó
Regional Adviser on Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Coordinating Unit for Operational Activities
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Palais des Nations, Office 440
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: + 41 22 917 2471
Telefax: + 41 22 917 0178
E-mail: [email protected]
Ref: ECE/OPA/01/06