EUR 10m of guarantees to improve access to finance for SMEs in all Western Balkan Beneficiary Economies that will address youth unemployment in the region is now available under “the EU for Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship in the Western Balkans”. Read more
“It is our pleasure to invite you to the Western Balkans Enterprise Development and Innovation Facility SME Forum on Tuesday, 7 May 2019 from 14:00 to 18.15 in the Main Hall (Level 1) of the Hotel Holiday, Sarajevo, Bosnia – Herzegovina. The WB EDIF SME Forum will open with the SME Policy Index: Western Balkans and Turkey 2019 launch session, co-hosted with the OECD, setting the stage for an in-depth discussion on the opportunities and challenges in the SME business environment. This will be followed by an interactive panel session, during which SMEs, finance providers and other stakeholders can share their experiences under WB EDIF as well as exchange lessons learned and best practices on their road to success. Read more
13th WBEDIF Platform Advisory Group meeting took place on 5 December in Luxembourg, at the premises of EIB and hosted by EIF. PAG has discussed the results of WB EDIF to date and the future strategy of the platform for the benefit of the target beneficiary economies. A short movie has been created at this occasion, which will be released soon!
Today in Belgrade, the EIF endorsed the selection of five local banks (Raiffeisen bank, UniCredit bank, Banca Intesa, ProCredit bank and Komercialna bank), which will implement the “EU for Serbia – financing for SMEs” Guarantee. The event took place in the presence of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Ms Ana Brnabić, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Economy, Mr Milun Trivunac, and Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia, H.E. Mr. Sem Fabrizi.
Deputy Ambassador of Republic of Poland to Serbia, Mr Andrzej Kindziuk, announced that his country will host the next year’s Berlin Process Summit in the city of Poznań, due to its economic and historical significance. The announcement came during the event on the future of Berlin Process, organised by the European Western Balkans portal.
This report presents the results of the EIB CESEE Bank Lending survey at the regional and at the single country level. The survey is a unique instrument developed in the context of the Vienna Initiative to monitor cross-border banking activities and deleveraging in CESEE, to better understand the determinants / constraints influencing credit growth in CESEE and to gain some forward-looking insights into cross-border banks’ strategies and market expectations regarding local financial conditions.
The fifth Berlin Process Summit, hosted by the United Kingdom, got underway with a meeting of Economy Ministers in Vienna on 4 July.
Discussions in Vienna focused on how the Berlin Process could best support economic growth in the region, including through the implementation of the Western Balkans Multi-Annual Action Plan for a Regional Economic Area Plan – a proposal agreed at the 2017 Berlin Process Summit to allow for the unobstructed flow of goods, services, capital and highly-skilled labour across the region, so as to promote investment and trade.
First time public WB EDIF Annual Report 2017 can be accessed on the link below:
The first WB EDIF Business Forum took place in Belgrade on 26 June 2018 as part of the 12th WB EDIF PAG meeting. The Forum was hosted by the Ministry of Economy of Serbia and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and took place under the auspices of the European Commission with the support of the EIF.
The event gathered more than 150 participants from the entire region, including officials from the beneficiary economies, EC, EUDs, IFIs, Chambers, banks and finance providers as well as a number of SMEs. Several panels were organized to learn more about what WB EDIF has to offer, to hear stories from the companies benefitting under the facility and to discuss the main access to finance challenges.
The Forum was opened by the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Marko Cadez, State Secretary of Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Serbia, Branimir Stojanovic and Head of Cooperation at Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, Ingve Engstrom.
A business to finance event was organized in the afternoon, where the SMEs from the Western Balkans had the chance to meet the finance and advisory providers under the WB EDIF.
The first WB EDIF Business Forum took place in Belgrade on 26 June 2018 as part of the 12th WB EDIF PAG meeting. The Forum was hosted by the Ministry of Economy of Serbia and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and took place under the auspices of the European Commission with the support of the EIF.
The event gathered more than 150 participants from the entire region, including officials from the beneficiary economies, EC, EUDs, IFIs, Chambers, banks and finance providers as well as a number of SMEs. Several panels were organized to learn more about what WB EDIF has to offer, to hear stories from the companies benefitting under the facility and to discuss the main access to finance challenges.
The Forum was opened by the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Marko Cadez, State Secretary of Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Serbia, Branimir Stojanovic and Head of Cooperation at Dele-gation of the European Union to Serbia, Ingve Engstrom.
A business to finance event was organized in the afternoon, where the SMEs from the Western Balkans had the chance to meet the finance and advisory providers under the WB EDIF.
