[Index]
Forum on “After
Fifteen Years of Market Reforms in Transition
Economies: New Challenges and Perspectives
for the Industrial Sector”
Palais des Nations,
Geneva, 24-25 May 2005
Geneva, 21 May 2005 - The introduction
of market reforms in the formerly planned
economies of central and eastern Europe
and central Asia fifteen years ago brought
profound economic, social and political
changes. As a result, these economies
have become much more efficient and over
the last few years have experienced positive
rates of economic growth. However, this
generally positive picture contrasts with
the uneven and sometimes declining income
of populations in some countries, the
collapse of large parts of the industrial
sector and a general lack of employment
opportunities except for relatively low
skilled and low paid jobs.
While a lot of attention
has been paid to the growth of the service
sector, that previously was neglected,
the domestic industrial sector in these
countries has suffered from intense international
competition as well as from the collapse
of military expenditures. At the same
time, a number of international industrial
companies have established their own subsidiaries
in this part of the UNECE region albeit
focusing on the resource-based, processing,
food and automobile industries with comparatively
few investments taking place in high-value
added industrial activities.
With market reform, governments
in these emerging market economies have
not been able to support directly their
industrial sector as they did in the past.
Having no choice but to open their markets
to full international competition and
unable at times to conduct a supportive
economic policy towards the growth and
successful structural transformation of
their domestic industrial sector, many
governments are still struggling with
the issue of industrial restructuring
and competitiveness, and related issues
dealing with foreign investment and employment
as well as the impact of industrial foreign
trade on the trade deficit, currency and
balance of payments.
This is why UNECE countries
requested the UNECE Committee on Trade,
Industry and Enterprise Development and
the Working Party on Industrial Restructuring
and Enterprise Development to organize
a Forum on the theme “After Fifteen
Years of Market Reforms in Transition
Economies: New Challenges and Perspectives
for the Industrial Sector”. This
Forum will be held during the UNECE Trade,
Industry and Enterprise Development Week,
on 24 and 25 May 2004, in the Palais des
Nations.
The goal of the Forum
is to contribute to a better understanding
of trends and developments as well as
the challenges in the economic and in
particular industrial restructuring of
countries in the UNECE region with a focus
on the new emerging market economies.
The event is divided into six sessions
(see programme):
- Economic and Industrial Restructuring
in the UNECE Region, 1990-2004 –
Lessons and Prospects;
- Information and Communication Technologies
and Knowledge-based Industries and Industrial
Restructuring;
- The Impact of Industrial Restructuring
on Small and Medium sized-Enterprises;
- Good Practice in Entrepreneurship
and SME Development – The Baltic
Miracle: Experience of Estonia, Latvia
and Lithuania;
- Driving Forces in Industrial Restructuring
in Transition Economies; and
- New Challenges and Perspectives in
Industrial Restructuring.
Each session will be
chaired by a policy maker or academician,
such as Mr. Miroslav Somol, Deputy Minister,
Ministry of Industry and Trade (Czech
Republic), Mr. Ramamurti Badrinath, Director
of the Division of Trade Support Services
of the International Trade Centre, Prof.
David Smallbone, Director of the Small
Business Research Centre at Kingston University
(United Kingdom), and H.E. Mr. Dumitru
Croitor, Ambassador, Permanent Mission
of the Republic of Moldova to the United
Nations Office and other International
Organizations in Geneva.
For further information,
please contact:
Mr. Antal Szabó
Regional Adviser on Entrepreneurship
and SMEs
United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe
Palais des Nations, Bureau 440
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: + 41(0) 22 917 2471
Telefax: + 41(0) 22 917 0178
E-mail: [email protected]
Ref: ECE/IREEDD/05/P03