The Project “Financial facilities for SMEs: training and capacity building for Business Support Organisations in non-EU member states of the Central European Initiative – FIT4SMEs” has started at the beginning of February 2011, aiming at training staff of selected business intermediary organisations in the area of SMEs-dedicated financial instruments made available by international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank Group, or the European Investment Bank (EIB). The Project is implemented by INFORMEST, Development Agency for Economic Cooperation based in Gorizia (Italy), and financed by the Central European Initiative (CEI) through its Know Exchange Programme (KEP) and by the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy).

This assignment is the first phase of a larger programme to be developed by INFORMEST, which seeks to develop skills of staff members and improve capacities of development agencies, local Chambers of Commerce, Business Associations, Business Incubators, Technology Parks located in the nine Project recipient countries, which are the non-EU member states of the CEI: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine.

Throughout the Project implementation, the selected Business Support Organisations (BSOs) will be involved in initiatives and actions, aimed at specialising and boosting their know-how on how to assist SMEs to access financing for their operations. The standard for transferred know-how is the level of advice offered by business support organisations in European Union countries.

Two BSOs per each recipient country will be selected by Informest on the basis of their reliability, internal capacity and commitment to the project. In March 2011 the selected BSOs will have the possibility to take part to a kick-off event and to the first level training. Both events will be held in Trieste, at the CEI headquarters, in the presence of representatives of major international financial institutions.

Registrations are opened till 9th March 2011.

For further informations, please visit the project website at the following link: http://www.fit4smes.net.