Small and medium-sized enterprises

The Government approved a draft Memorandum of Understanding on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises between the Minister of Economy of Bulgaria and the Minister of Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship of Romania.

BCCI President Tsvetan Simeonov and Executive Director of the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency Boyko Takov held a workshop to discuss priorities and topical issues for cooperation between the two institutions.

Opportunities and directions for cooperation in support of small and medium business were discussed at a meeting on Thursday by Dr Boyko Takov, Executive Director of the Executive Agency for Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (BSMEPA) and Larisa Manastirli, Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development / EBRD / for Bulgaria.

As many as 14,000 business plans had been entered in the Start-Up Nation 2018 application by Wednesday, Minister for the Business Environment, Commerce and Entrepreneurship Stefan-Radu Oprea told a press conference.

"Up until now we have over 14,000 business plans in the system and over 20,000 registered users," Oprea said.

With the assistance of the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, The Bulgarian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA) is a co-organizer of the 8th European Forum for Social Entrepreneurship.

Some 13 Turkish lenders have launched a 20 billion Turkish Lira ($3.7-billion) finance package for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), the treasury and finance minister has announced.

US Ambassador in Athens Geoffrey R. Pyatt stressed America's commitment to supporting Greek economic growth as he addressed on Wednesday's presentation of the new "Roots" program for the support of local startups and small and medium-sized enterprises, to be implemented by the Athens Exchange and the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce.

The Economy Ministry and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are promoting alternative ways to finance small and medium-sized enterprises and support the Greek stock exchange, which has experienced a flurry of delistings in recent years.

Denis Zvizdic, the chair of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Council of Ministers, painted an optimistic picture in his speech to the Sarajevo Unlimited regional forum on Tuesday, saying that regional cooperation and networking would help young entrepreneurs find their place on the global market.

Small and medium-sized enterprises may have seen an improvement in the first half of the year, but a number of them remain in a dire situation, according to a survey released on Thursday by the Small Enterprises Institute of the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen & Merchants (GSEVEE).