EBRD and the government of Romania on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Bucharest, providing the framework for a future cooperation between the two institutions to implement a five-year program of support for SMEs.
The document was signed by Andrei Gerea, Romanian Minister for Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises and Business Environment, and James Hyslop, EBRD Director for Romania.
According to the EBRD statement, the program will focus on improving the competitiveness of Romanian SMEs by providing access to the know-how of local consultants and international advisers on a cost-sharing basis. The program aims to help SMEs improve the quality, marketing, operations, energy efficiency and many other aspects of their activities as well as develop their strategies or financial reporting.
As part of the program, the EBRD will also continue to develop the local consultancy market in Romania, offering consultants professional development and training opportunities to enhance their skills.
“We have achieved impressive results since the launch of the Small Business Support programme in 2006 and we very much welcome the commitment of the Romanian government to continuing this cooperation and exploring new funding opportunities. The extension of our fruitful cooperation will benefit Romania’s SMEs and its wider economy,” Hyslop stated.
EBRD’s Small Business Support program in Romania is currently funded by Austria as a core donor as well as Korea, the TaiwanBusiness-EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund and the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund.
EBRD, the leading institutional investor in Romania, invested EUR600 million in the country in 2014. To date, the EBRD has invested over EUR7 billion across 370 projects in Romania, and mobilized more than EUR14 billion for these ventures from other sources of financing.