On October 4, 2011, LEDIB Cluster House delegation participated at the 7^th International Conference on SMEs that took place at Sava Centre Belgrade as a part of European SMEs Week. The Conference was organized by Ministry of Economy and Regional Development in cooperation with the German Office for Technical Cooperation (GIZ) and National Agency for Regional Development.

Minister of Economy and Regional Development Nebojsa Ciric opened the SMEs Financing and Innovation Conference, and stated that these two components are of key importance for real progress in the sector consisting of 99.8 % of all the enterprises in Serbia and employing two thirds of workforce. It needs assistance as this very sector represents the business promoter of every serious country.

Workshops with renowned names from financing and public sector fields, with moderators who are well informed about the issues SME sector in Serbia faces on daily basis, resulted in conclusions that would be of assistance to Serbian economy in selection of the correct path to development. Funds, access to finances, innovations and significance of their implementation in business were just some of the questions participants tried to answer to in details.

A very simple explanation as to why every single small and medium enterprise is worth fighting for was given by Verica Kalanovic, Government Vice President, who stated that with 327 000 enterprises from this sector with only one new employee, 327 000 people get jobs, so the Government is doing all in its power to create environment in which small and medium enterprises can operate and develop.

Access to sources of financing and administration are key problems for establishment and development of small and medium enterprises in Serbia, as was remarked by the participants of the International Conference on Small and Medium Enterprises in Belgrade.

You can download program here