EU backs development of SME sector in Serbia with 1.5m EUR

- European Union has set aside 1.5m EUR for two-year Project of technical support to development of policies of enterprises in Serbia - said Dejan Jovanović, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development.

- The aim of the project is to enable strengthening of the national and regional institutions that will be dealing with the development of small and mid-sized enterprises (SME) and the innovation policy - said he at the presentation of the project whose application started on September 1st, 2008.

According to his words, this project will give an opportunity to 150 Serbian enterprises to improve their innovation capacities".

- That means that these companies will have a chance to acquire additional information and know-how in order to develop their innovation potentials and improve their operations, which is very important for competition and creation of new jobs - Jovanović added.

As he specified, the project will help development of SME sector in the Ministry of Economy, the SME Development Agency and the SME Council of the Government of Serbia.

The project leader, Stephen O`Mullane, said that the criteria for selection of 150 SME that would participate in the project would be defined by the end of the week.

He said that the primary goal of the project was "support to development of market economy and socio-economic and regional unity through development of internationally competitive and innovative private sector".

The Project Manager in the Delegation of European Commission (EC), Dejan Šuvakov, reminded that EC had invested about 1.3 billion EUR in all segments of recovery and revitalization of the society in Serbia prior to year 2007.

- So far, about 55m EUR have been invested in SME sector in Serbia - said Šuvakov and added that that amount included 15m EUR worth of credit lines.