196 small and medium enterprises, individual producers in the sub-sectors of diary production as well as the fruit and vegetables processors from BiH were supported through the EU funded project “Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Development in Gorazde, Foca, Rogatica and Novo Gorazde” . In order to improve their overall capacities, they were provided with commodity grants to start new businesses or improve the existing enterprises and agricultural production as well as with certification in EU quality control standards.
A presentation of products produced within this project was organised yesterday in the ‘EU House’ (EU Delegation to BiH/EUSR) in Sarajevo, which marked the official end of a successfully completed project, promoted the potential of small and medium enterprises in BiH and the European Union support to the growth and development of these enterprises in BiH. Beneficiaries of the EU funds and the four projects of German Government, eight representatives of small and medium enterprises, individual producers of agricultural products (dairy, fruit and vegetables), manufacturers of handicrafts and rafting equipment presented their products in order to promote the production potential for economic growth and exports.
Chargé d’Affaires of the EU Delegation to BiH, Renzo Daviddi emphasized that this is a very significant and successful project, adding that the problems small and medium scale producers were encountered by are the lack of networks linking enterprises and complicated process of obtaining credits. This project sought to overcome some of the problems and provided tips on how to overcome them.
EU provided funds for the project from the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) in the amount of around 400 000 EUR. Municipalities included in the project co-funded it.
Along with this project, four more projects were realised, financed by the German Government with around one million euro. The projects were implemented by the German NGO HELP Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe.
The Head of Economic Department of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in BiH, Florian Burkhardt said that the German Government in 2012 helped the NGO HELP with 350,000 EUR from the part of funds for the support of South-Eastern Europe. The goal is to develop BiH, where there is still a lot of potential for it.
The Head of Finance Department and Project Development of the NGO HELP, with headquarters in Bonn, Timo Stegelmann, said that this organisation has supported around a thousand small and medium enterprises in the field of tourism, handicrafts, agriculture and service industry. 91 percent of them are still operating successfully.
During yesterday’s event, it was announced that an exhibition of products of small and medium enterprises that HELP supported, will be organised for the citizens on the 20 September 2012, in front of the Economic Faculty in Sarajevo.
