Strategies of the Development of Entrepreneurship and SME
Strategies of the Development of Entrepreneurship and SME
Strategies of the Development of Entrepreneurship and SME
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2. DEVELOPMENT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND <strong>SME</strong> SECTOR IN THE BSECCOUNTRIES 13The Black Sea region is a distinct geographical area with strategically located at junction<strong>of</strong> Middle- <strong>and</strong> South-Eastern Europe, <strong>the</strong> Middle East, <strong>the</strong> Caucasian region, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Europeanpart <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> CIS expert Belarus spreading over several thous<strong>and</strong> kilometers long territory. It isdifficult to state that <strong>the</strong>re is a homogenous strategic interest <strong>of</strong> its all 12 Members Statesexcept <strong>of</strong> developing human right, building democratic society in all countries, developing <strong>the</strong>ireconomies toward <strong>the</strong> market one <strong>and</strong> promoting good governance.It is a promising good sign, that within <strong>the</strong> framework <strong>of</strong> BSEC more confidence buildingmeasures are taking place in <strong>the</strong> region affected by conflict, like Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh,South Ossetia <strong>and</strong> Transdnistria. However, new conflict area might be occurring day by day,like in Eastern-Turkey with <strong>the</strong> Kurd minority. This is why promoting entrepreneurship <strong>and</strong>economic development, this could contribute to build social cohesion, security <strong>and</strong> stability.More than 3 million <strong>SME</strong>s in <strong>the</strong> BSEC region employee over 21 million workers in total,while <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> unemployed amounts to more than 10 million.Since <strong>the</strong> foundation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> BSEC WG on <strong>SME</strong>s <strong>the</strong> transition countries continued tomake progress in economic reforms. The countries in South-Eastern Europe (SEE) made <strong>the</strong>most progress, spurred on by <strong>the</strong>ir inspiration to join <strong>the</strong> EU. Bulgarian <strong>and</strong> Romania alreadysucceeded. Croatia, The former Yugoslav Macedonia <strong>and</strong> Bulgaria in SEE toge<strong>the</strong>r with Georgiafrom <strong>the</strong> Caucasus are in <strong>the</strong> group <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> first ten top reformers in 2006-2007 in accordancewith <strong>the</strong> latest World Bank Doing Business 2008 Report. 14 Eastern Europe <strong>and</strong> Central Asia, asa region, surpassed East-Asia this year in <strong>the</strong> ease <strong>of</strong> doing business. Several <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> region'scountries have even passed many economies <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> old advance EU countries on this score.It is <strong>the</strong> Caucasian transition economies significant positive changes have been observedin all three countries. It seems that <strong>the</strong>re is a certain competition among <strong>the</strong>se countries <strong>and</strong>perhaps Armenia is <strong>the</strong> leader concerning good governance <strong>and</strong> transparent support system in<strong>the</strong> filed <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>SME</strong> sector.Within <strong>the</strong> Commonwealth <strong>of</strong> Independent States (CIS) only <strong>the</strong> Russian Federation <strong>and</strong>Ukraine improved <strong>the</strong>ir business performance. Moldova remained <strong>the</strong> poorest <strong>and</strong> unhealthiestcountry <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> region with growing debt, lack <strong>of</strong> energy resources, problems <strong>and</strong> hugeunemployment making <strong>the</strong> matters worst with <strong>the</strong> issue <strong>of</strong> Transdnistria.The World Bank Doing Business Project provides objective measures <strong>of</strong> businessregulations <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir enforcement across 178 countries. The Project aims at ranking <strong>the</strong>economies on <strong>the</strong>ir ease <strong>of</strong> doing business, with first place being <strong>the</strong> best. A high ranking on<strong>the</strong> ease <strong>of</strong> doing business index means <strong>the</strong> regulatory environment is conducive to <strong>the</strong>operation <strong>of</strong> business. This index averages <strong>the</strong> country's percentile rankings on 10 topics, madeup <strong>of</strong> a variety <strong>of</strong> indicators, giving equal weight to each topic.As <strong>the</strong> World Bank states 15 :“Albania introduced a new fiscal package which reduced <strong>the</strong> tax burden on firms bylowering <strong>the</strong> corporate income tax by 3% <strong>and</strong> amending depreciation rates. Labor taxes <strong>and</strong>contributions were lowered by 9 percentage points.”13 Prepared by Dr. Antal SZABÓ, UNECE retired Regional Adviser on <strong>Entrepreneurship</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>SME</strong>s14 See at http://www.doingbusiness.org/features/Reform2007.aspx.15 See at http://www.doingbusiness.org/reformers/ECA.aspx11