51st PABSEC committee meeting commences its work at Ukrainian Parliament’s premises
26 September 2018, 12:38
The 51st meeting of the PABSEC Committee on Economic, Trade,
Technological and Environmental Affairs takes place at the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy addressed the participants of the meeting.
The Chairman of the aforementioned Committee Krasimir Velchev opened the meeting.
In his speech, he emphasized that within the system of economic and social relations of most states small business performs very important functions - innovation, support of a normal competitive environment, creation of additional jobs, which in turn helps reduce unemployment, increase consumption and demand, and encourage commercial activity.
He then observed that in today's difficult economic conditions, it is necessary to reduce the burden on business, stimulate the development and expansion of production, it is important to stabilize the existing taxation system, simplifying it. He also noted that the BSEC member-states have gained significant experience in developing small business, which should be disseminated and promoted when building innovative competitive economies.
The PABSEC Secretary General Asaf Hajiyev handed over the honourary medal of the Assembly to the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy.
The sitting approved the 51st meeting’s agenda and the minutes of the previous 50th meeting of the committee, which had taken place on March 28-29, 2018 in Bucharest.
Members of the committee heard a report on the development and support of small business in the BSEC member-countries, which was delivered by a member of the committee, Vice-Chairman of the committee Vahe Enfiajyan (Armenia).
According to him, the main advantage of small business is rapid adaptation to constantly changing market conditions owing to a short technological cycle and a simplified management system.
The Vice-Chairman of the committee also noted that small businesses play a rather big role in the economy of any country and are an integral part of the country's socio-economic system, ensuring stability of market relations, attracting most of citizens to this system of relations by opening their own businesses, ensuring high efficiency of production through a deep specialization and cooperation of production, which contributes to the economic growth of a national economy. So, in most countries, small businesses account for some 50% of GDP and from 5 to 90% of citizens are busied in this area. Thus, by supporting small business, a state solves problems of raising the welfare of the population and increasing the percentage of the middle class.
There are several world’s ratings that are tasked to assess the level of competitiveness, entrepreneurial activity and competitive environment of countries. One of them is “Doing Business” - conducted by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. In this rating, the BSEC member-countries rank respectively:
Georgia - 9, Russia - 35, Serbia - 43, Moldova - 44, Romania - 45, Armenia - 47,
Bulgaria - 50, Azerbaijan - 57, Turkey - 60, Albania - 65, Greece – 67, Ukraine – 76.
The speaker reviewed the status of small and medium enterprises in the members-countries of the BSEC and legal support to their activities.
In particular, the Vice-Chairman of the PABSEC committee noted that in May 2017 the Government of Ukraine had adopted the strategy for the development of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship for the period up to 2020, which defined priorities in implementation of the state policy in this area.
According to him, over the last six years Ukraine has been steadily rising up from 152 to its current 76th position.
The speaker stressed that the issues of small business development and creation of a favorable business climate, increase of investment attractiveness and competitiveness of economies in general are one of the key areas of the BSEC’s economic policy.
“The main tasks for parliaments and governments of the Black Sea region are to improve the relevant legislation and economic environment acceptable for the development of small business. In particular, it is necessary to simplify tax legislation and reduce tax burden over small businesses," said he.
The rapporteur stressed the importance of exchanging experience of supporting small enterprises accrued by the BSEC member-states, which would promote building innovative competitive economies, as well as the development of foreign economic cooperation in this area.
"The BSEC plays an important role in promoting and furthering multilateral cooperation in the economic sectors over the Black Sea region. Moreover, within the frame of the organization there are great opportunities for interaction in business. Small and medium-sized businesses, where enormous economic potential is concentrated, can ensure the growth of interaction between the BSEC countries," stressed V. Enfiajyan.
During the meeting, there took place an ample discussion.
The meeting approved the draft report, the committee’s recommendations, and appointed the speaker to report before the General Assembly.
Worthy of note
The PABSEC Committee on Economic, Trade, Technological and Environmental Affairs includes seventeen parliamentarians representing seven countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.