Programmes

East Invest is a regional investment and trade facilitation project that contributes to the economic development of the region and to the improvement of its business environment, developing networking between the EU and the Eastern Partner countries and between the Eastern partners themselves, in productive sectors identified as priorities. 

Objectives

• To increase the capacity of the economic actors on the EaP side (BSOs, SMEs and selected public sector bodies) in order to promote and facilitate investment and economic cooperation between the EU and Eastern Partnership countries, and also between the six target countries.
• To create the “East Alliance”, mobilising business organisations from both sides to engage in a sustainable partnership and dialogue with public authorities and with each other.

Beneficiaries

Business Support Organisations and SMEs from the EU and the six Eastern Partnership countries, which have a potential for developing mutual cooperation and investment relations.

Activities

• Consolidation and establishment of SME support networks both in the EaP region and in the EU ( (East-Alliance).
• Organising matchmaking meetings between SMEs from EU and EaP countries to initiate partnerships, including participation in regional fairs.
• Providing Technical Assistance (TA) to SMEs within East Alliance to enhance their networking and trading competences and opportunities.
• Providing TA to Business Support Organisations within East Alliance, enhancing their abilities and opportunities in supporting network SMEs.
• Providing TA to selected public sector bodies within East Allianceto enhance their capacity to create a more conducive business environment for SMEs within the entire East-Invest region. 

Results

For SMEs:

• SME Roadshow Facility: 24 SME Roadshows were carried out to 17 EU Member States, involving 11 Eastern Partnership BSOs, 18 EU BSOs, 400 Eastern Partnership SMEs and 1,000 EU companies. During the Roadshows, 22 business contracts between EU and EaP SMEs were signed.
• 5 Study visits took place in Europe, involving  over 50 SMEs from the 6 countries.
• 22 seminars for SMEs on EU Acquis and  internationalisation  were organised in the EaP countries, where over 216 SMEs from Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and Azerbaijan were trained.

For Business Support Organisations (BSO):

• Over 50 individual exchanges completed including EaP involvement: one Georgia to Italy; one Moldova to Italy; two Ukraine to Spain; three Belarus to Ukraine, etc.
• Four BSO Management Academies organised, with the participation of 128 EaP BSO representatives from Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova.
• 15 twinnings (long term partnerships) between EU and EaP BSOs allowed for transfer of know-how to the latter and the development of long term relationships between the BSOs.
• Development of an EU consultancy service that enabled EaP BSOs to call on the expertise of their EU counterparts and receive on site assistance. 
• 6 Project management courses were designed (1 for each country) with the objective of enhancing EaP BSOs project management capacities.

For selected public sector bodies (Investment Intelligence):

• Identification of 6 priority sectors for the region 
• Specific country and sector analyses for each of the 6 EaP countries
• 6 country reports on the East Invest website (section “investment promotion”) 
• 6 investment map brochures 
• 4 Investment catalogues
• 9 Investment Conferences

Website

http://www.east-invest.eu