Financing SMEs in Asia and Europe

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) is an intergovernmental forum for dialogue and cooperation established in 1996 to deepen relations between Asia and Europe. In this framework, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Banca d’Italia, in collaboration with the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), hosted an ASEM Seminar on 29-30 October 2015, on the topic of ‘Financing SMEs in Asia and Europe’.

The Seminar saw the participation of relevant speakers from different ASEM countries, including policymakers, Government officials and other business and financial stakeholders. Participants addressed the role of SMEs in promoting economic growth and share valuable best practices and lessons learnt in order to promote their access to credit and to other financial instruments in the two regions.

The findings of the meeting will be reported to the 12th ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in November 2015, as well as to the ASEM Summit in Mongolia in 2016.