The first meeting of VEB.RF’s project working group, chaired by Deputy Chairperson Marina Romanova, involved in the national project for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses and Individual Entrepreneurial Initiative Support took place on 20 February 2019.

The meeting was attended by experts from VEB.RF, RSMB Corporation, SME Bank, REC, DOM.RF, the Far East and Baikal Region Development Fund, VEB-Leasing, the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, VEB Innovations, OPORA RUSSIA All-Russian Public Organisation of Small and Medium Business.

VEB.RF’s working group will contribute to strengthening the strategic partnership among development institutions, setting priorities, creating advanced solutions for SME support and suggesting new approaches to boosting entrepreneurship, including the urban economy projects.

The participants also discussed the need to make preferential lending and leasing products more accessible to entrepreneurs (including in the Far Eastern Federal District), the prospects for SME involvement in major investment and infrastructure projects, the better use of export opportunities and the challenges of gaining entry into foreign markets.

“Small and medium-sized businesses play an essential role in economic development. Encouraging entrepreneurial initiative can increase both employment and production efficiency. The coordinated activities of development institutions in this area will significantly accelerate the development process. In this context, VEB.RF’s large-scale projects can generate the demand for SME products and services,” Marina Romanova said.