Representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises of Moldova on November 10 met at an annual conference of SMEs. In his welcoming speech, Prime Minister Pavel Filip said the Moldovan SMEs showed that they can develop. These rose to a figure of 50,000 or 97% of all the companies that work in the country. The SMEs account for 55% of the exiting jobs and for 38% of the GDP, IPN reports.

Among the actions taken by the authorities to support this sector of the economy, the Premier mentioned the decrease in the number of inspections and of inspection bodies and optimization of authorizing documents needed for starting and developing a business, whose number will be reduced from 414 to about 200 by the end of this year. Pavel Filip reiterated that entrepreneurs’ problems are a priority for the state institutions as the entrepreneurs create jobs and pay salaries, essentially contributing to improving living standards.

Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Pirkka Tapiola said that even if the exports to the EU increased, a lot of work is yet to be done to enhance competitiveness of the SMEs in Moldova and to diversify the exported products. “We assure you that we will continue to support the SME sector of Moldova,” stated the diplomat.

An initiative to stimulate local investment processes was launched in the conference. Three young entrepreneurs presented their investment projects that envision the collection of funds for implementing these, including from those attending the conference. Two are agricultural projects, while one is aimed at developing fitness in rural areas, in two villages of Stefan Voda district.

In the same event, there were chosen the 20 best entrepreneurs from the SME sector, in nine categories. The organizers also awarded six winners of the contest “SME model of social responsibility”. Those nominated received money awards and presents from sponsors.

The authorities set the objective of reaching the ratio of 25 SMEs to 1,000 people by 2020.