On May 17, the business forum of the European Union Azerbaijan took place. The event was attended by officials on both sides, representatives of international organizations and entrepreneurs.
, in the framework of the business forum, the Business Environment in Azerbaijan – 2021, prepared with the support of the European Union, was also presented. According to a survey of European companies about the ongoing local reforms and evaluating the effectiveness of organizations, the agency for the development of small and medium -sized businesses (Kobi̇a), significantly improved its position, entered the first five leading organizations (6.04 points). The report says that foreign investors considered the assistance and services of the agency to be effective and useful to support SMEs. The report also notes the effective work of the Houses of the SME, the development centers of SMEs, the network of friends of the SME, as well as the effectiveness of other services provided.
The Minister of Economics, who performed in the official opening ceremony of the forum, Mikail Dzhabbarov, emphasized that special attention is paid to relations with the European Union, and also noted the significance of mutual visits and high -level meetings in the growing dynamics of connections. As the minister said, the European Union is the largest investment partner of Azerbaijan. The volume of investments amounted to more than 20 billion euros.
Speaking at the panel discussion organized as part of the forum on the topic “Access to financial and other resources”, the chairman of the Kobi̇a board, Orhan Mammadov shared his opinion on the access of SMEs to financial resources. It was noted that at the global, regional and national levels, efforts are being made to simplify financing SMEs. Within the framework of their own financial instruments and through more than 20 centers of the agency for the development of SMEs in this area, free services are provided in order to increase the level of financial literacy, simplify access to existing funds and provide consultations. KOBİA provides SME grants, finances part of the costs of the domestic market research and issues Startup certificates, which for 3 years free the SME from income tax and income tax with their income from innovation.
The Center for the Development of State-private Partnership under the Agency also implements a number of measures to involve SMEs in various projects. Orhan Mammadov noted that work is currently underway to create the Development Fund of SMEs. He also emphasized that this fund will offer grants and technical assistance to SMEs.