On the eve of the 5th Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit in Brussels, EUROCHAMBRES – the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry and a key partner of the EU4Business initiative in the East Invest programme – has called for a strong political engagement of the European Union in the EaP countries, and underlined the importance of further economic reforms, development of the private sector, and independent business support organisations for increasing trade and investment opportunities with EU businesses.
EUROCHAMBRES urged EU leaders to enhance their support for the involvement of the private sector in reform efforts to improve the business environment for SMEs, thus contributing to the success of the transition process in the six EaP countries.
“EUROCHAMBRES is proud to have contributed to the strengthening of the capacities of the EaP business support organisations, through the successful implementation of the EU-funded East Invest programme. The programme has helped Business Organisations to deliver better services to SMEs and to engage in public-private dialogue with governments. One concrete outcome was the first ever EaP Regional Position Paper, which includes a set of concrete recommendations to improve the business climate in the region,” said Arnaldo Abruzzini, CEO of EUROCHAMBRES. “We will continue our work to ensure these recommendations are being translated into actual policies”
EUROCHAMBRES has a long experience of successful cooperation with the business support organisations around the globe in the framework of its economic diplomacy and of support to the development of the SME sector.
Business support organisations (such as Chambers of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses, and others) play a vital intermediary role for bringing together SMEs from EU Member States and EaP countries for developing trade relations.
In this context, the EU4Business East Invest initiative was launched in 2010, and has continued (East Invest 2) until today. The project has been implemented by EUROCHAMBRES in cooperation with UEAPME.