SME Policy Index: Eastern Partner Countries 2024

Acknowledgements

The SME Policy Index: Eastern Partner Countries 2024 – Building resilience in challenging times is the result of work conducted by the OECD and five Eastern Partner (EaP) countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine), in co-operation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with the support of the European Training Foundation (ETF) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) as knowledge partners, and with the financial assistance of the European Union.

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

The project was managed by Daniel Quadbeck, Head of the Eastern Europe and South Caucasus Unit, and co-ordinated by Carlotta Moiso, Salomé Will, and Francesco Alfonso (OECD Eurasia Division). Extensive support in finalising the report for publication was provided by Sophia Anders, Manon Pituello, and Pierre de Trémiolles (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, and Jovana Pavlovic Djukic, Marijana Petrovic and Umur Gökçe (OECD South East Europe Division).

Svenja Petersen, Senior Economist (EBRD), led the analysis and authored the sections of the report related to Access to Finance, while Andrii Bilovusiak and Olivia Arslanian (EBRD) provided valuable research assistance.

The work of the partner institutions was overseen by Kristien Van den Eynde and Pirita Vuorinen (ETF) and Anders Jönsson and Jakob Fexer (UNECE). 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. The authors extend their gratitude to all government officials and other stakeholders who have been actively involved across the EaP 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: Lilit Hakobyan (Armenia), Nijat Eyvazzada, Tural Valiyev, Elmar Isayev (Azerbaijan), Tsisnami Sabadze (Georgia), Silviu Neghină and Veronica Bulba (Moldova), Oleksandr Vasylchuk and Andrii Remizov (Ukraine).

Principal authors of the report are:

Table 1. Principal authors of the report, by chapter

Chapter	Author(s)
Executive summary	Francesco Alfonso, Daniel Quadbeck
Policy framework, structure of the report and assessment process	Francesco Alfonso, Carlotta Moiso
Overview of key findings	Clara Le Cannellier, Salomé Will
Economic Context	Francesco Alfonso, Josefin Sünnemann
Digital Economy for SMEs	Salomé Will
Pillar A – Responsive Government	Carlotta Moiso, Antonio Fanelli (external consultant)
Pillar B – Entrepreneurial Human Capital	Salomé Will
Pillar C – Access to Finance	Svenja Petersen (EBRD)
Pillar D – Access to Markets	Carlotta Moiso, Simone Wurster and Knut Blind (Technische Universität Berlin and Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Competence Center Policy and Society, Karlsruhe, Germany), Daniel Ivarsson (external consultant)
Pillar E – Innovation and Business Support	Francesco Alfonso
SBA country profiles	The general parts of the profiles were drafted by Zhasmin Avetisyan (Armenia, Ukraine), Josefin Sünnemann (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova), while dimension-specific parts were drafted by the same authors as specified above.
Methodology annex	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 Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, the OECD Environment Directorate, and the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation. At the EBRD, inputs were provided by the SME Finance and Development Group; the Competitiveness, Governance and Political Affairs team; the FI Banking team; the Office of the General Counsel; the Financial and Capital Markets Development team; the Digital Hub; and the country teams in the Eastern Partner region.

The publication was also reviewed and supported by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR). In particular, the OECD team is grateful to the contributions by Gérald Audaz, Jeanne Robles, Angela Bularga and Thibault Charlet (DG NEAR).

The independent assessments were conducted with the support of local consultants: Sevak Hovhannisyan, Qnarik Baghdasaryan and Arman Gabrielyan (Armenia), Vusala Jafarova (Azerbaijan), Giorgi Papava and Ana Burduli (Georgia), Ruslan Sintov (Moldova) and Yevhen Anhel (Ukraine).

The final report was edited and prepared for publication by Elisa Larrakoetxea (OECD Eurasia Division), with the strategic support of Robert Akam (OECD Global Relations Secretariat) and Katherine Kraig-Ernandes (OECD Digital Communications, Web, and Publication Directorate). It was edited and proofread by Chris Marquardt and Jennifer Allain. The implementation of the project was assisted by Mariana Tanova and Jolanta Chmielik (OECD Global Relations and Co-operation).

This SBA assessment project is implemented within the EU4Business initiative, with 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 its Member States.