Signing of the first European funds financing contracts

Representatives of the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises, Commerce and Business Environment (MIMMCMA), Constantin Niţă and Maria Pârcălăbescu, signed, on Friday, the first 22 financing contracts backed by European funding. These funds were made available for SMEs through the Sectorial Operational Program "Increase of the Economic Efficiency, Priority Axis 1 - An innovative and ecologically efficient production system".

Constantin Niţă, the Minister of Ministrul of Small and Medium Enterprises, Commerce and Business Environment, said that "the signing of these first contracts represents a big achievement for us, whereas in the last two years, the Ministry did not access a single dime of European funds". He also added that Romanian SMEs will be "extremely affected by the economic crisis".

The 22 projects which were signed are part of the financing plan launched on March 31st, 2008, with projects being continuously submitted since May 28th, 2008. According to representatives of the MIMMCMA, 922 projects have been submitted online so far, and over 700 projects have completed their submissions.

MIMMCMA launched five calls for projects in 2008, with a total budget of 106,74 million Euros. Following these calls, over 500 small and medium enterprises which are currently under evaluation will be funded, with the entire process expected to end in March 2009.

Maria Pârcălăbescu, State Secretary in Ministry of SMEs, said that most contracts signed are focused on production - glassware, leather products, equipment acquisitions, shoes or plastic products.