About 50 local and regional consultancy providers participated on Friday in a specialized exhibition titled Business Consult Expo. The event was organized as part of the Business Advisory Services (BAS) Moldova Program of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Info-Prim Neo reports. Veronica Arpintin, director of BAS Moldova, said the exhibition would take place once in 2 years and should become a platform for communication between local and foreign consultants, and for the representatives of small and medium businesses in Moldova. “During 5 years in Moldova, BAS has collaborated with over 250 small and medium-sized businesses, which often managed to identify their market niche and overcome some problems, to improve their competitiveness and sales thanks to the consultancy services they accessed”, Veronica Arpintin said. EBRD representative in Moldova, Libor Krkoska, said that 60 of the 250 companies obtained credits from the EBRD through local banks. BAS Moldova Program will be continued in Moldova for 3 more years. “I hope companies that are involved in agriculture, processing industry, service sector and energy efficiency programs will make use of the opportunities offered by BAS”, Libor Krkoska said. Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar was confident the exhibition would help the development of consultancy services market. “The long-awaited signing of the Free trade agreement with EU will require Moldovan companies to be more competitive on the European market. Without consultancy, which helps companies improve their management, this task may prove too difficult”, the minister said. During the event, 20 workshops have been organized. Participants have been offered consultancy regarding strategic development of businesses, informational management systems, financial management and marketing, as well as other special consultancy domains. BAS Moldova helps the companies by refunding 70% of consultancy services’ cost, up to 10,000 euros. So far, the overall aid offered by BAS to small and medium businesses has amounted to 1.4 million euros.