SME Policy Index: Eastern Partner Countries 2020

Acknowledgements

The SME Policy Index: Eastern Partner Countries 2020 – Assessing the Implementation of the Small Business Act for Europe is the result of work conducted by the OECD and six Eastern Partner countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine), in co-operation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Commission and the European Training Foundation (ETF).

The report was written under the guidance of Andreas Schaal, Director of the OECD Global Relations Secretariat and William Tompson, Head of the OECD Eurasia Division.

The project was managed by Daniel Quadbeck, Senior Policy Analyst, OECD Eurasia Division, and co-ordinated by Francesco Alfonso and Alena Frid, OECD Eurasia Division. The project benefitted from the early guidance of Meryem Torun, former OECD Eurasia Division. Extensive support in finalising the report for publication was provided by Carlotta Moiso, OECD Eurasia Division. It further profited from inputs by Marzena Kisielewska, Head of the OECD South East Europe Division, as lead reviewer of the publication.

The work of the partner institutions was overseen by Simone Zeh Atanasovski, Principal, Svenja Petersen, Principal, and Christian Cronauer (all EBRD), Rafaella Boudron and Kristi Raidma, Project Managers (European Commission), and Olena Bekh, Senior Specialist in Human Capital Development (ETF). This report was made possible thanks to the contributions of the National Small Business Act (SBA) co-ordinators who supported the data-gathering and verification process. We extend our gratitude to all government officials and other stakeholders who have been actively involved across the region, and whose support and dedication have made the development of this publication possible. In the EaP countries, the following SBA co-ordinators led their countries’ participation in all stages of the project: Karen Gevorgyan (Armenia), Elchin Ibrahimov, Emil Ismaylkhanov and Vusala Jafarova (Azerbaijan), Tatyana Bykova and Irina Babachenok (Belarus), Ekaterina Mikabadze and Tsisnami Sabadze (Georgia), Iulia Costin, Constantin Turcanu and Oxana Paladiciuc (Moldova), and Olexandr Palazov and Andriy Slabinskiy (Ukraine).

Principal authors of the report are:

 

Executive summary	Alena Frid, Daniel Quadbeck
Policy framework and structure of the report	Francesco Alfonso, Carlotta Moiso
Overview of key findings	Carlotta Moiso, Cecilia Trasi, Olena Bekh (ETF)
Economic context	Déborah Pereira, Hubert Massoni, Carlotta Moiso
Level playing field	Lyudmyla Tautiyeva; Sabine Zigelski (OECD Competition Division)
Pillar A – Responsive Government	Antonio Fanelli (external consultant), Hubert Massoni
Pillar B – Entrepreneurial Human Capital	Olena Bekh, Anthony Gribben, Pirita Vuorinen (all three from ETF)
Pillar C – Access to Finance	Christian Cronauer, Jan Keller, Svenja Petersen, Simone Zeh Atanasovski (all from EBRD)
Pillar D – Access to Markets	Patrik Pruzinsky; Knut Blind, Florian Münch, Simone Wurster (all three from Technische Universität Berlin); Daniel Ivarsson (external consultant)
Pillar E – Innovation and Business Support	Alena Frid, Francesco Alfonso; Guy Halpern (OECD Environment)
SBA country profiles	The general parts of the profiles were drafted by Lyudmyla Tautiyeva (Armenia, Ukraine), Alena Frid (Belarus, Georgia) and Patrik Pruzinsky (Azerbaijan, Moldova), while dimension-specific parts were drafted by the same authors as above. In addition, pillar B sections were written by Florian Kadletz (Armenia, Azerbaijan), Kristien Van den Eynde (Ukraine), Anthony Gribben (Georgia, Moldova) and Pirita Vuorinen (Belarus) (all four from ETF).
Annexes	Alena Frid, Lyudmyla Tautiyeva, Carlotta Moiso

Note: All authors are from the OECD Eurasia Division, unless specified otherwise.

The report was reviewed and benefitted from further inputs provided by the OECD Environment Directorate; the OECD Directorate for Enterprise and Financial Affairs (Anti-Corruption Network, Competition and Investment Divisions); the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration; the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, and OECD SIGMA (Support for Improvement in Governance and Management). At the EBRD, inputs were provided by the SME Finance and Development Group; the Economic Policy and Governance Department; the Office of the General Counsel, Local Currency and Capital Markets; and the country teams in the Eastern Partner region. Pillar E benefitted from additional comments provided by the Innovative Policies Development Section of the UNECE.

The publication was also reviewed and supported by the European Commission’s Directorate-General Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR); Directorate-General Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW); and the EU Delegations in the Eastern Partner countries. In particular, the OECD team is grateful to the contributions from Hoa-Binh Adjemian (DG NEAR), Maxime Bablon and Tom Diderich (DG GROW).

The independent assessments were conducted with the support of local consultants: EV Consulting (Armenia), Yulia Aliyeva (Azerbaijan), UNITER (Belarus), Lali Gogoberidze (Georgia), CIVIS (Moldova) and Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (Ukraine). The competition assessment was conducted with the support of Maksym Nazarenko (Sayenko Kharenko Newlaw Firm). ETF’s national experts Jemma Israyelyan (Armenia), Sadaqat Qambarova (Azerbaijan), Irina Tochitskaya (Belarus), Giorgi Kobaladze (Georgia), Ghenadie Ivascenco (Moldova) and Bogdana Aleksandrova (Ukraine) provided important support to the assessment of human capital dimensions.

The final report was edited and prepared for publication by Elisa Larrakoetxea, Kristin Sazama, with the strategic support of Vanessa Berry-Chatelain (OECD Global Relations Secretariat) and Carmen Biezma Fernandez (OECD Public Affairs and Communications Directorate). It was edited and proofread by Chris Marquardt. The implementation of the project was assisted by Eugenia Klimenka, Maria Ferreira, Mariana Tanova and Jolanta Chmielik (OECD Global Relations Secretariat).

This SBA assessment project is implemented within the EU4Business initiative, benefitting from the financial assistance of the European Union. The views herein can in no way be taken to reflect the position of the European Union or the Member States.