2nd OECD Conference of Ministers Responsible for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Documentation & Presentations

At the first OECD Conference of Ministers responsible for SMEs, hosted by the Italian government in Bologna, Italy, in June 2000, Ministers from nearly 50 member and non-member economies adopted the “Bologna Charter for SME Policies”. They envisaged the Bologna Conference as the start of a policy dialogue among OECD member countries and non-member economies that would be followed up by continuous monitoring of the progress made with regard to the implementation of the Bologna Charter. This has become known as the “OECD Bologna Process”. The second OECD Conference of Ministers responsible for SMEs, hosted by the Turkish Ministry for Industry and Trade (Istanbul, 3-5 June 2004), provided an occasion to assess the impact on SMEs of new developments relating to globalisation.

At the close of the Istanbul Conference, Ministers adopted the Istanbul Ministerial Declaration on Fostering the Growth of Innovative and Internationally Competitive SMEs.

Conference documents are also available below in pdf format

Programme

List of Participants

Issues for Discussion

Executive Summary of the Background Reports
(also available in French, Spanish and German)

Resolving E-Commerce Disputes On-Line: Doing the Right Thing about Consumer Complaints and Business Disputes. Frequently Asked Questions for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)

Small and Medium Enterprises in Turkey: Issues and Policies (also available in Turkish)

Background reports (full versions):

Fostering Entrepreneurship as a Driver of Growth in a Global Economy

Women’s Entrepreneurship: Issues and Policies

Facilitating SMEs' Access to International Markets