EBA Georgia has become a member of European Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises Associations (CEA-PME), which is a Brussels-based business federation and currently counts 22 European associations among its members, with more than 2.1 million enterprises.
CEA-PME membership is consistent with the EBA’s mission to advocate for European Business in Georgia, as well as to facilitate the development of trade and investment between Georgia and Europe.
SMEs in Georgia still have very little information in all matters related to the European Internal market, the European programs and structural funds, EU-Policies and European legislation, which is one of the impediments to export. EBA Members have the opportunity to get the extensive information and advice in all the above mentioned issues with the cooperation of the Confederation.
As a key player in many EU-networks, CEA-PME can reach a huge amount of SME and involve strong partners. The membership in the confederation opens to the EBA Members a large community of entrepreneurs abroad, which may become future business partners.
Moreover, CEA-PME represents the interests of its members towards the institutions of the European Union and Its role is particularly significant in the area of SME advocacy. This factor will enable Georgian businesses to protect their interests not only towards Georgia but also towards European state institutions.
Taking into account that one of the most important requirements of the Association Agreement between Georgia and the EU is the implementation of small and medium-sized entrepreneurial policy, which emphasizes the importance of the consultation with SMEs in the process of policy development, EBA is reactively as well as proactively involved in all the processes, which help to create the environment where doing business in Georgia will be the same as doing business in Europe. This was the main purpose of becoming a member of CEA-PME and enabling all EBA Members to benefit from the above mentioned services.