Baku to host exhibition on local products, services
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
About 150 companies are planning to participate in an exhibition titled "Partners and Business", Azerbaijan’s Agency for Development of Small and Medium Businesses (SMEs) reported on January 9.
The exhibition will be held in the Baku Sports Palace on February 20-22.
It will present the products and services of local companies in the fields of industry, agriculture, food, ICT, education, construction, logistics, etc.
The exhibition organized for a wider presentation of Azerbaijani companies, the development of business partnerships between local companies, and the establishment of new cooperation ties.
The event will be held under the joint organization of the Agency for the Development of SMEs, the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers') Organisations, Kapital Bank and Marsol LLC.
Entrepreneurs wishing to participate in the exhibition can contact Marsol LLC at tel.: 050 228 64 31 (contact person is Farid Rajabli) or visit www.partners.az
http://smb.gov.az/nav/about-us
While ensuring proper regulation of SMEs activity, the Agency’s goal is to use a flexible supervision system, broadly implemented in this area as meeting modern requirements in compliance with international experience, and effective coordination mechanisms so as to increase the contribution and share of micro, small and medium-sized businesses in the national economy, boost their competitiveness, present them with broader opportunities to access financial resources, improve mechanisms to provide them with institutional support, coordinate the activities implemented by public and private entities in this area, establish favorable business environment to ensure development of entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan’s regions and attract domestic and foreign investments to this area of activity.
The Agency’s mission is to increase the efficiency of small and medium enterprise system regulation, ensure a variety of support mechanisms and entrepreneurs’ smooth access thereto, achieve sustainable SMEs sector development and its increased contribution to the national economy. The Agency’s main target is to fulfill an important mission of an entrepreneur’s friend.
As for the strategic vision of the Agency, it lies in ensuring sustainable economic development of Azerbaijan, priority should be given to enhancing the role of SMEs in economic development, boosting SMEs contribution to GDP and employment, increasing competitiveness of SMEs, providing them with cost-effective and efficient access to financial resources, mainly using SMEs for the production of consumer products, as well as expanding SMEs opportunities to access foreign markets.
The share of SMEs in employment in Azerbaijan was 76 percent in 2018, and in recent years, comprehensive work has been carried out for the development of SMEs. In particular, inspections of business entities have been suspended and the process of obtaining licenses has been simplified. The share of SMEs in Azerbaijan’s foreign trade is planned to increase to 40 percent after 2025.
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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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