Conference on "Enterpreneurship and Employment"
Draft Chairman's Conclusions

The conference on “Entrepreneurship and Employment” was organized on 26-27 Mayin Bucharest by the Stability Pact in co-operation with the OECD (both the Investment Compact and the LEED programme) under the joint auspices of the Irish EU Presidency and the Romanian SEECP Chairmanship-in-office.

Responding to concerns expressed at the Tirana Regional Table meeting of December 2003, the Conference addressed simultaneously the improvement of the business climate and the enhancement of social cohesion. It emphasised the need to bring about in SEE a culture of entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises (SME) development combined with improved employment, education and training policies.

The conference, which was opened by the Romanian Minister of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family, Elena Dumitru, encouraged a further use and a greater convergence of the Stability Pact instruments already available to promote these objectives, such as the OECD led Investment Compact, the European Charter for Small Enterprises, the private sector development programmes led by the EBRD and other International Financial Institutions, as well as the Council of Europe/ILO led review of employment policies and of   performance of employment services of the SEE countries further to the Employment Ministerial Conference of end October 2003 in Bucharest.

Specific recommendations were made in four workshops:

1. Education and training should be geared more towards employability and entrepreneurship: this requires among others, improved delivery mechanisms and teacher training, as well as a more systematic analysis of the skills in demand in SEE now and in the future.   It would be worthwhile to analyse successful donor supported pilot projects in educating and training for entrepreneurship and to examine how lessons learned could be “mainstreamed” within the formal curriculum.
2. One of the most important factors for improving the business climate appears to be the scope, nature and quality of the dialogue between policy makers and the business community. Business associations should be the true voice of private enterprises and involve a strong representation of SMEs.
3. As shown by the successful model developed by the EBRD, a package of instruments combining access to credit and technical assistance is necessary to stimulate and sustain private sector development, in particular SMEs. The provision of technical assistance, subsidised by donors, is essential in the start-up phase and can be phased out relatively quickly.
4. A more comprehensive, horizontal approach is needed to address the problems created in a region by massive de-industrialisation. Successful restructuring requires, among other things, early stakeholder involvement, transparency, leadership and co-ordination as well as an important role for social partners. The development of a template of practical measures may help; these could be co-ordinated by regional development agencies. Successful regional development experiences such as that of the Timisoara/Arad region in western Romania are encouraging as they show the role of SMEs in promoting an entrepreneurship culture and in reducing unemployment.

While calling for enhanced political commitment to support existing SP initiatives, the conference also encouraged more communication, convergence and cross-fertilisation among the initiatives, in particular among officials involved in investment promotion and those involved in employment policies.

Possible follow-up events that would bring these officials together could include:

• A workshop on successful experiences in SEE in training to enhance employability and entrepreneurship under the leadership of the European Training Foundation.
• A workshop on the design of financial and technical assistance packages in support of SMEs under the leadership of the EBRD.
• A workshop on successful case experiences in regional development under the leadership of the OECD (Investment Compact and LEED).