ArmInfo. On October 28, the EU and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) announced the launch of the Support for the Small and Medium Enterprises Development in Armenia (SMEDA) Project on the sidelines of the EU4Business Week in Armenia. The EU-GIZ- funded project aims to improve the national business environment and to develop the small and medium-sized enterprises.
Mr. Hoa-Binh Adjemian, Head of Operations at the EU Delegation to Armenia, said that the key idea of the project is to contribute to creation of nearly 100 SMEs annually in the field of innovations, as well as to formation of additional values of SMEs. The budget of the 4-year project will be nearly 8 mln EUR.
Mrs. Eva Naeher, Team Leader of SMEDA Project, said that the project is aimed at enhancing the quality of services provided to SMEs by studying their needs and the existing gaps in their activities, as well as by developing the best approaches. Business associations can also become the project beneficiaries. She noted that SMEDA is open for cooperation with SMEs and various business organizations through nearly 20 clusters that represent the fields of high precision engineering, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and waste processing. She also said that the project wants to expand the circle of beneficiaries.
To recall, on October 24, Head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia, H.E. Piotr Antoni Switalski and the RA First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments, Garegin Melkonyan announced the launch of the EU4Business Week in Armenia during the opening of the Eastern Partnership 8th Business Development Panel in Yerevan. Running from 24 to 28 October 2016, the EU4Business Week will highlight the EU support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through series of events and include other activities facilitating private-public dialogue for the benefit of businesses both in the Eastern partner countries and in Armenia. The initiative cooperates with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and European Union Education Foundation.
To note, the share of SMEs in Armenia's GDP is 30%. By the latest data, there are nearly 70,000 SMEs in Armenia. At the yearend of 2015, the share of SMEs in the Armenian state budget revenues was 2.4%.