European Commission on Friday launched the call for proposals “Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) development: Modernising Products and Services” as part of the EU funded Aid Programme to encourage the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community.
According to an announcement, the overall objective of this call “is to strengthen and improve the competitiveness of small and medium Turkish Cypriot community’s enterprises and to diversify the local economy as a mean to improve the job market and preserve natural resources”.
It also aims at supporting local SMEs in improving their product quality, while reducing the cost of production. The call will provide support in fostering business excellence through a modernisation of Turkish Cypriot SMEs’ products and services, while supporting cost-saving initiatives such as Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy actions.
The call will also continue to prepare the Turkish Cypriot community private sector towards European standards and to encourage further cooperation between Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot companies.
The Call for Proposals has an indicative overall budget of 5,000,000 euro with grants between 10,000 and 300,000 euros.
The European Commission, according to the announcement, is committed towards guaranteeing transparency and equal treatment to all potential applicants.
A launch event will take place next Wednesday.
