On January 23 – 27, 2017 final EU4Business Week launched by the East Invest 2, the EU initiative was held. MIM-Kyiv co-organized and hosted the event. Handicraft Chamber of Ukraine, “Business Gathering” and League of business and professional women of Ukraine were partners of the Series.

The EU4Business Week covered the most urgent topics for SMEs. However the main efforts are taken to bring in fundraising expertise and developing the SMEs position paper which would make the voice of the sector heard. The Series were traditionally instrumental in networking, forging partnerships with the peers from the other 5 Eastern Partnership countries and mastering new skills.

The EU4Business Week started with the Project Development, Implementation and Fundraising Forum, which was organized in the very practical format. This time the participants from businesses and professional associations as well as SMEs representatives not only learnt about the current technical assistance programs (Horizon2020, COSME, EEN, USAID, Renaissance), but also established small groups to make the most of the opportunities those programs presented.

The Forum was followed by the unique three-day long seminar on Negotiations and Mediation. It was provided by the Ukrainian Mediation Center. The seminar blended EU and Ukrainian experiences represented by the international team of experts. Participants had a chance to master and hone their communication skills and put them into practice in order develop their projects and elaboration of the Ukrainian section of the SMEs position paper.

The week was finished by the Round Table “Position of Ukrainian Businesses to the Government and International Community”. During the Round Table discussion which was facilitated by the international experts the EU4Business Week participants discussed and agreed on the action plan for stakeholders of public-private dialogue for the priority economic reforms implementation in Ukraine.