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The Head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia Ambassador Piotr Świtalski and Armenian Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments Garegin Melkonyan were present at the 8th Business Development Panel opened today in Yerevan.

As the press statement by the EU Delegation reads, the panel focuses on innovation as an essential tool for boosting competitiveness both on regional and national level. The panel will also officially launch the pilot version of the EU4Business Website aiming at making EU support to Businesses more accessible and visible.

Whithin the frames of the initiative from 24 to 28 October 2016, the EU4Business Week will highlight the EU support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through series of events and include other activities facilitating private-public dialogue for the benefit of businesses both in the Eastern partner countries and in Armenia.

Ambassador Antoni Świtalski stressed in his speech that the launch of the EU4Business Week makes Armenia the centre of various events and activities that highlight EU's role in supporting economic development, innovation and businesses in the entire Eastern Partnership. “It is very symbolic to launch the week by the Business Development Panel. SMEs provide the vast majority of the job opportunities, therefore the economic opportunities linked to SMEs should also be significant. This initiative launched is a strong signal for the EU commitment to support businesses, for the direct benefit of real economy and increasing the country’s and the region’s competitiveness;,” the Ambassador said.

Deputy Minister Garegin Melkonyan welcomed the launch of the EU4Business.
“Armenia attaches great importance to the EU assistance provided to partner countries within the framework of the Eastern Partnership for the implementation of the economic reforms with a special focus on ensuring and deepening of bilateral and multilateral cooperation. The competitive and effective small and medium-sized enterprises are one of the most important preconditions for the economic development in our country,” Melkonyan aid.

The press statement informs that in the scope of the event on October 26-27, for the first time in Armenia, a high level international conference “Fostering Sustainable Development in Eastern Partnership countries” also takes place. Representatives of central, regional and local authorities will gather in Yerevan to discuss new EU initiatives and instruments for sustainable urban development and best practices for successful modernisation of urban infrastructure in the Eastern Partnership countries. The conference will feature a signing ceremony with 25 Mayors of new signatory cities from EaP countries to join the new Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy including 4 from Armenia.