SME DNC AND OSCE YEREVAN OFFICE SIGN MEMORANDUM ON COOPERATION
Noyan Tapan
Mar 20 2007
YEREVAN, MARCH 20, NOYAN TAPAN. "Armenia’s Small and Medium
Entrepreneurship Development National Center" (SME DNC) Fund and the
OSCE Yerevan Office will implement a joint program of assistance
to SME subjects in Armenia. The sides on March 20 signed a mutual
understanding and cooperation memorandum on this. The document was
signed by the SME DNC Director Ishkhan Karapetian and the OSCE Yerevan
Office Head, Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin.
Within the framework of the memorandum, the OSCE Yerevan Office
will assist the SME DNC and other structures related to the sector’s
development in participation in European initiatives on SME support,
integration into organizations and information networks, developement
of expert resources.
After signing the document, I. Karapetian and V. Pryakhin underlined
that in recent years the structures headed by them have cooperated
within the framework of various projects on SME assistance.
V. Pryakhin said that the 5th anniversary of the SME DNC was celebrated
on March 19. He pointed out that the SME sector of Armenia is
undergoing a "certain and definite development" with the assistance
of civil society and international structures. One evidence is
the growth of SME share in GDP – it increased from 20% to 40% from
2002 to 2006. According to the ambassador, the experience of SME
development in Armenia can be used in other countries, particularly
in CIS countries. In his opinion, financing of SME subjects remains an
important problem in Armenia. V. Pryakhin attached special importance
to introduction of European standards of SME development from the
viewpoint of solution of this and other problems.
He and I. Karapetian noted that assistance to SME development in
Armenia is now viewed within the framework of the European Neighborhood
Policy. In the words of I. Karapetian, in 2006, SME subjects accounted
for 17% of Armenia’s export, while their tax revenues – for 28%
of the total amount of tax revenues.