Armenia should first and foremost improve its image, expert from UEAPME Christian Gessl told ArmInfo's correspondent on February 26, noting that this will contribute to improvement of social climate in the country, which in its turn will have positive impact on the development of small and medium business.
Armenia has a huge potential in tourism field, agriculture and IT sector, that is why these fields should be under special attention, as they play a crucial role in the establishment of country's image and raising its awareness in the European space, he mentioned.
According to him, non-favorable economic situation in the region is caused by the fact that the Russian market has the major share in Armenian trade relations. In this light Gessl mentioned that soon Armenian SME Cooperation Association will become member of UEAPME. Armenia has already submitted an application for participating in the European organization for SME and I think that within 2 months the European side will approve it, after which the representation office of Armenia will be opened in Europe. As a result this will contribute to enhancement of cooperation between Armenian and European businessmen and to development of economic processes in the country, Gessl summarized.
To note, UEAPME is the employers' organization representing the interests of European crafts, trades and SMEs at EU level. UEAPME is a recognized European Social Partner. It is a non- profit seeking and non-partisan organization. As the European SME umbrella organisation, UEAPME incorporates around 64 member organisations from 34 countries consisting of national cross-sectorial SME federations, European branch federations and other associate members, which support the SME family.UEAPME represents about 12 million enterprises, which employ around 55 million people across Europe.
To recall, 70 thousand SMEs operate in Armenia from which 58 thousand are micro and small enterprises and 10 thousand are medium enterprises. The share of SME in Armenia's GDP totals 43%, however the sector ensures only 6% of tax revenues.