We are pleased to invite you to participate in this seminar which will take place on Thursday 17 March 2005, in Sofia, Bulgaria. This seminar is organised by the OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme and the Bulgarian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Promotion Agency in co-operation with the Investment Compact-OECD and the Central European Initiative (CEI).

Over the past 20 years the OECD LEED Programme has provided a forum for national and local governments and development agencies to assess and exchange information on entrepreneurship policy development at local level.  Since 2004, through its Trento Centre for Local Development, the LEED Programme has extended its reach to enable agents in member and non-member countries in Central, East and South-East Europe to join this forum for information exchange and problem solving in local development policies.  In 2005, LEED Trento Centre is organising a series of capacity building seminars in South-East Europe to assess how to face key challenges in the area of entrepreneurship policy development.

The Sofia seminar will be an opportunity to debate the results of recent entrepreneurship developments in Bulgaria and will focus on the theme of financing entrepreneurship at local and regional level in light of experiences from OECD and South-East European countries. It will analyse the main obstacles to improving SME finance at local level and the instruments that help: credit unions, mutual guarantee schemes, venture capital. The analysis of concrete SME finance initiatives will provide know-how and support to participants wishing to use similar instruments in their regions.

Participants are requested to send the duly filled case study form below together with the registration form by Monday 28 February to Mr. Roberto Chizzali.

The working language of the seminar will be English. 

The following Hotels offer special rates for the event:

Hotel RILA (Venue of the conference)   6, Kaloyan Str. 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria Tel.: (+359 2) 93 791 Fax: (+359 2) 981 33 86 E-mail: [email protected] Single room: 89 Euro (with breakfast) Double room: 102 Euro (with breakfast)

Hotel BULGARIA 4, Tzar Osvoboditel Blvd. 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria Tel.: (+359 2) 987 19 77 Fax: (+359 2) 988 41 77 Single room: 55 Euro (with breakfast) Double room:  80 Euro (with breakfast)

 

Please note that participants are responsible for their accommodation, but the OECD is not responsible for the choice and the registration to the hotel. To book your room, please contact the hotel directly.

For any further information, please contact Ms. Alessandra Proto, Tel: +39.0461.277.602  or Mr. Roberto Chizzali, Tel: +39.0461.277.606

Download the draft agenda
Download the registration form
Download the case study form