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05. Roundtable: SMEs in Central and Eastern Europe Watch Video Connection Speed: High Speed Low Speed    Event Title : ABCDE 2007 Slovenia Date : 5/17/2007 Duration : 52 minutes Language  : English Country/Region : World Keyword :  Financial Sector  Private Sector Development  Community Driven Development Presenter : | Related Material | Recommendations |Related B-SPAN Videos |  DESCRIPTION  The Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE) brings together academics, policy makers, representatives of multilateral and bilateral agencies, research institutes, civil society organizations, students, and journalists, and thus provides an excellent opportunity to foster exchange of knowledge and understanding of development issues. ABCDE 2007 took place in Bled, Slovenia, and was co-organized by the World Bank and the Ministry of Finance of Slovenia. It gathered together over 400 participants over two days to discuss the theme of Development and the Private Sector. Fabrizio Coricelli, Director for Policy Studies at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, talked about the financial aspect of the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Eastern Europe: financial constraints that SMEs face, and policy measures adopted to overcome them. Japec Jakopin, Director of SEAWAY in Slovenia, challenged the view that it is financial constraints that hinder the development of SMEs in Central Eastern Europe most of all. Rene Samek, Director of the Division for Investment and Applied Research at CzechInvest, talked about subsidies provided to the private sector on the example of the Czech Republic. Peter Vesenjak, President of Hosting, reflected on non-financial constraints that have hindered the development of SMEs, such as lack of entrepreneurship skills, uncompetitive (monopolized) economy, lack of technical assistance and heavy taxation. Financial obstacles add to that, for example in form of a shortage of innovative financial instruments on part of banks. Philippe de Fontaine Vive, Vice-President at the European Investment Bank, concluded the discussion by suggesting a few factors that favor the development of SMEs in the region, including genuine competition in the banking sector, regional integration, and limited intervention from public institutions.  RELATED MATERIALS   Related World Bank and Other Links: World Bank: ABCDE 2007 Slovenia Related B-SPAN Events: ABCDE 2006 Tokyo ABCDE 2006 St. Petersburg RELATED B-SPAN EVENTS Financial Sector (90) Private Sector Development (70) Community Driven Development (46)