From 31 March to 2 April 2004 a delegation headed by Mr. Eugen Ovidiu
Chirovici, President of the Romanian National Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises
and Cooperatives, under the Office of the Prime Minister, attended the 6th Forum for
Best Practices in the Development of the SMEs sector, organized by the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). On the basis of a longstanding cooperation
between Romania and UNECE, Romania was offered the opportunity to organize, during
this event, a presentation of its national experience in the field, under the
chairmanship of HE Ambassador Doru Costea, Permanent Representative of Romania to the
UN Office at Geneva, who underlined, in his
welcoming statement that SMEs are able to "build bridge enterprises - bringing
together institutional, business and cultural environments, and, moreover, they bring
people together".
Bilateral meetings: In a bilateral meeting with Mrs. Brigita Schmognerova,
Executive Secretary of the UNECE, Mr. Chirovici underlined the importance paid by the
Romanian Government to the development of the SME sector and the incentives through the
start-up programmes developed by the Agency, and also through the National Fund for
SMEs Credit Guarantee.
The strategic importance of the Intellectual Property as an important tool for economic
development was the focus of talks between the President of the Romanian National Agency
for SMEs and Cooperation, Mr. Eugen Ovidiu Chirovici, and the Deputy Director General of
the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Mr. Geoffrey Yu, during the visit to
the WIPO Headquarters, on April 1st, 2004.
The economic significance of small and medium enterprises and the potential of
intellectual property to further the development and enhance the competitiveness of
this sector was emphasized. SMEs today are the backbone of many national economies.
SMEs, a rich source of innovation and entrepreneurship which can efficiently harness
individual creative effort and convert it into the production and commercialization of
new and original products, are often not fully aware of the intellectual property
system and its potential for business development. The Deputy Director General pledged
WIPO's support in promoting awareness and use of the intellectual property system
by SMEs in Romania.