2,5 million euros of European Union’s support for WB6 economies – a Grant Contract signed in Tirana

Thanks to the European Union and a Grant Contract that was signed in Tirana, more than 1,200 small and medium companies from all six Western Balkan economies will receive concrete support in the next three years which will help them to improve production and export capacities, increase sales in the world and markets of the region, become suppliers of multinational corporations, receive funding from European funds and attract foreign investments.

Namely, the European Union has allocated € 2.5 million to support the project to raise the competitiveness of the region’s economies, which will be implemented by WB6 Chamber Investment Forum.

Through this project, the European Union will help strengthening the capacity of the WB6 Chamber Investment Forum and member chambers individually to support the economy, but the main beneficiaries of these funds, or services created during the project, will be entrepreneurs.

Thanks to this project, about 200 companies from the region will be able to connect and arrange business at bilateral business meetings organized by CIF, while 60 of them will be supported to enter international supply chains, and will jointly participate in three major international fairs. Moreover, three investment conferences will also be organized in order to promote the region and successful business stories for foreign investors. About 60 companies can count on technical assistance in project preparation and application for EU funds and programs such as Horizon 2020, COSME or Creative Europe.

Businesses will be available online databases with quality information on individual foreign markets, likewise info days, seminars and workshops, tailored to the businessmen needs, where they will be educated about the benefits of the regional economic area and receive advice and information on how to achieve better cooperation with each other and successfully internationalize their business.

Special attention will be paid to improving communication between public and private sector within the region and with the EU, in order to promote regional economic area. In that sense, three public – private dialogues between business and decision-makers are planned to be held with the participation of around 300 representatives of the business community of the region. Furthermore, even nine studies and researches will be conducted in order to identify barriers to cooperation in the region with recommendations to be addressed to the competent institutions.