The meeting of the Co-ordinators of the National Small Business Act (Istanbul, 17-18 May 2011), was the first meeting of the project on “Monitoring SME Policy Implementation in the Western Balkans”.
The Project, coordinated by the OECD Investment Compact for South East Europe (OECD-IC), aims at supporting the development of high-quality policies for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the Western Balkans. Attended by representatives of the beneficiary countries, the OECD, the EBRD, the European Commission and the European Training Foundation, the event was an opportunity to present the contents of the project, launch a new assessment tool and carry out a consultation platform between the participating institutions and the Member States involved. The project pays particular attention to the elaboration of the 2011 SME Policy Index, the main monitoring and assessment tool for SME policy in the region. It was launched in 2006 by the OECD and the European Commission and two assessment cycles were completed between 2006 and 2009. During the project a network of local experts will be created, data and information will be organized and collected, a series of country meetings to present and discuss the policy recommendations and guidelines outlined in the report will be organized. The CEI co-finances the project with resources from the CEI Trust Fund at the EBRD through its Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP). For more information on this project and on the CEI Know-How Exchange Programme: http://ceinet.org/KEP