Press Release: Commissioners keen to help small businesses to grasp trade opportunities

In the current financial downturn European small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) need to be able to do business abroad and benefit from the opportunities that trade offers to them. There are more than 23 million SMEs, representing 99% of EU companies, but only 3% of them export outside the EU. How can this be changed and what can the Commission do to support SMEs wanting to do business abroad? How can existing tools be improved and which new initiatives should be launched? More than 150 representatives of SME organisations, the European Parliament, the Member States, and other SME stakeholders debated this issue at a High Level Stakeholder Conference organised by Vice-President Günter Verheugen and Commissioner Catherine Ashton on 26 March, 2009.