Meeting on SME Policies for Job Creation in the MENA Region

23-24 September 2014 - Paris, France

The MENA-OECD Working Group on SME Policy and Entrepreneurship met to discuss issues of key relevance for job creation, economic growth and productivity through the promotion of entrepreneurship and SME development in the MENA region. The participants identified and exchanged good practices in policy development in the region and between MENA and OECD countries. Another objective of the meeting was to strengthen the network of SME policy makers and stakeholders and to define the priority areas of work for the next two years. The specific topics covered during this event were:

• The implications and impacts of the recent events in the region for enterprise policy;
  
  
• The results of the regional SME policy assessment based on the SME Policy Index;
  
  
• The establishment and reinforcement of monitoring and evaluation of SME policies and programmes as an integral part of policymaking;
  
  
• The analysis of SME and entrepreneurship policies as tools for job creation and especially to address high youth unemployment in the MENA region;
  
  
• Mainstreaming women's entrepreneurship as a building block for policymaking.

Participants identified policy gaps in these thematic areas, and proposed and agreed on follow up actions.

• Agenda English | français ‌
  
  
• Conclusions English | français

• View presentations on Slideshare
  

• SME Policy Index 2014: The Mediterranean Middle East and North Africa, Implementation of the Small Business Act for Europe

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• For further information,
  please contact
  Jorge Gálvez Méndez.