The visit of the representatives of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, of the Ministry for the Business Environment, Commerce and Entrepreneurship, of the Public Finance Ministry and of the Swiss Contribution Bureau of the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation in Romania, took place last week, at the Prahova Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The event was part of the stages included in the project “Integrated Export Services for the Romanian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises”, co-funded through the “Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme aimed at Reducing Economic and Social Disparities within the Enlarged European Union”. In this project, the Prahova Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a partner along with the Bacau Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry for Business Environment, Commerce and Entrepreneurship.
The visit was made at the Ploiesti headquarters of the Prahova Chamber of Commerce and Industry, since this is also the headquarters of the Business Center for Export; on this occasion, discussions have been held with the team in charge with the implementation of the project.
The Prahova Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as a partner within this project, provided not only modern premises, properly equipped for the optimal functioning of the Ploiesti Business Center for Export, but also a full team of experts trained to inform the beneficiary companies on what the export process involves through the access to market studies, fiscal and foreign trade legislation, tariff and non-tariff barriers, quality standards, packaging and shipment to the destination countries, export promotion, identifying the customers’ requirements, the characteristics of the target market, etc. The project team is led by the President of the Prahova Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Aurelian Gogulescu, who is also the Manager of the Ploiesti Business Center for Export.
The project entitled “Integrated Export Services for Romanian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises” was started last summer. It will be conducted until September, 2019, involving the setting up of two Business Centers for Export in Bacau and Ploiesti, within the Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The project is initiated in order to support the increase of the export capacity of the small and medium-sized enterprises, especially of those in the furniture field operating in the North-East and South Muntenia Regions.
As it was designed, the program includes two stages, namely the training of the representatives of the small and medium-sized enterprises to create high added value products which are competitive at international level and dedicated to the requirements of the consumers from the target markets in the EU and Non-EU regions, and participating in international events. At the same time, supporting activities will be carried out, such as conducting surveys in order to assess the requirements of the small and medium-sized enterprises, creating presentation web pages as well as promoting activities.
The project benefits from Swiss funding and Romanian co-funding or RON 7,891,553, respectively RON 1,392,627, and aims at the following objectives, through the Ploiesti Business Center for Export: supporting the increase of the export capacity of the small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the field of ecological agriculture and furniture production, by organizing training courses and specialized professional training sessions; promoting the access on the foreign markets by participating in fairs and exhibitions and matchmaking sessions; consultancy for creating an efficient export strategy; access to design services – packaging and labeling, quality control and certification services.
