Today.Az » Business » Azerbaijani Agency to cooperate with Opora Russia in SMEs
03 October 2019 [17:13] - Today.Az


By Azernews


By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan’s Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) has set up cooperation with Opora Russia, All-Russian Non-Governmental Organization of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses.

The agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding on mutual cooperation at a roundtable on "Prospects of cooperation in the field of small and medium entrepreneurship", on October 3 in Baku.

The document envisages information and marketing support to SMEs, training programs in entrepreneurship and business process, support for export-oriented SMEs, development and implementation of joint projects, trade-industrial and scientific-technical cooperation.

The document was signed by Orkhan Mammadov, Chairman of the Board of the Agency, and Alexander Kalinin, President of Opora Russia.

The discussions have been held on development of relations between Azerbaijani and Russian SMEs, identification of new directions of cooperation, exchange of experience in SMEs.

Stressing the successful development of the Azerbaijani-Russian economic relations in various directions, Orkhan Mammadov briefed the participants on the activities carried out in Azerbaijan on the development of SMEs, support mechanisms and the Agency’s activities.

He stressed that the Agency is interested in studying the experience of foreign partners, including Opora Russia in the development effective mechanisms, entrepreneurial thinking and stimulation of entrepreneurship.

In turn, Kalinin, informed on Opora Russia’s activities, and shared his views on  opening the Organization’s representative office in Azerbaijan, exploring opportunities by both agencies and exchange of experience.

Opora Russia includes about 400,000 entrepreneurs, which creates more than 5 million jobs. The Organization’s branches operate in 85 regions of Russia, 25 representative offices have also been established in 31 countries.

The event was attended by representatives of the Azerbaijani-Russian Business Council, which plays an important role in the development of relations between Azerbaijani and Russian businessmen, Caspian European Club, which brings together hundreds of business people, as well as Azerbaijani entrepreneurs engaged in agriculture, tourism, health, consulting and other areas.

The main task of the SMEs Development Agency is ensuring the succession of reforms, improvement of the business regulation system, and application of effective coordination, enhancing the role and competitiveness of SMEs in the country's economy, as well as the compliance of the management system in this area with modern requirements.

The share of SMEs in employment in Azerbaijan was 76 percent last year, 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.








Copyright © Today.Az