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Signing ceremony in Tbilisi
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia (MoESD) and the Entrepreneurship Development Agency (EDA) of Georgia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which provides a framework for future cooperation between the parties for the successful implementation of the state programme “Produce in Georgia”. The latter will facilitate the provision of consultancy services to SMEs.
The signing ceremony took place at the Prime Minister’s office at the Chancellery on the 22 October 2014 in the presence of the Prime Minster of Georgia, Irakli Gharibashvili; Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Giorgi Kvirikashvili; Minister of Finance, Nodar Khaduri; Director of the Entrepreneurship Development Agency, Giorgi Tsikolia, as well as an EBRD senior delegation, including the First Vice President, Phil Bennett; Managing Director for Eastern Europe and Caucasus, Francis Malige; and the Director for the Caucasus, Moldova and Belarus, Bruno Balvanera.
The main objective of the memorandum is for the EBRD, with its extensive expertise in this area, to support the MoESD and the EDA by providing technical advice to local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to promote competitiveness, stimulate entrepreneurship, as well as encourage innovation and the implementation of new technologies.
The EDA is a newly established state agency, the main purpose of which is to assist the development of entrepreneurship, providing the necessary support through the provision of guarantees and co-financing for business loans, as well as offering technical assistance under the national programme Produce in Georgia, which aims to support entrepreneurship and SME development. EDA is the main facilitator of the Produce in Georgia programme.
The EBRD will, under this initiative, work to strengthen SMEs across a wide range of sectors and improve their capacity for innovation, competitiveness and their ability to attract external investments, while striving to develop a sustainable infrastructure of business advisory services in the country. The EBRD will also help individual enterprises to engage with local consultants on well-defined, short-term advisory projects. The EBRD will carry out a range of activities to develop and strengthen the local advisory services market such as training for local consultants and SMEs and capacity building.
“I am delighted to launch this new initiative today. This is an excellent collaboration to support the government of Georgia in its programme to help the most important segment of the economy – the entrepreneurs. The real sector is the backbone for a healthy and striving economy. We have established close working relations with the MoESD, with a longstanding fruitful cooperation in policy dialogue, and therefore, we are pleased to continue our successful teamwork with this new initiative”, said Bruno Balvanera, EBRD Director for Caucasus, Moldova and Belarus.
The EBRD’s advisory activities, which are currently funded by the European Union, have included more than 800 advisory projects in Georgia over the past decade, helping small businesses address questions of strategy, operations, marketing, quality management, energy efficiency and beyond. Almost 84 per cent of these businesses have seen increases in turnover within a year of the project’s completion, while 72 per cent increased productivity. These projects helped create 2,668 jobs in 2011-13, as 66 per cent of the enterprises increased their number of employees.
The EBRD also promotes economic development in Georgia by helping SMEs access business advice and industry expertise to improve their performance and grow. The programme also works with local consultants in Georgia to improve their skills and know-how, equipping them to deliver higher-quality projects and expand the special areas they cover.