Press Release: European Conference focuses on crucial importance of small enterprises for Growth and Jobs in EU

The 4th European Conference on crafts and small enterprises, hosted by the European Commission on 16-17 April 2007 in Stuttgart (Germany), will focus specially on the enormous importance of these companies. Crafts and small enterprises are the beating heart of local communities and the Union’s most promising source of new jobs, innovation, economic dynamism and greater social inclusion. Presently companies with less than 10 employees are producing more than 20% of the European added value and offer jobs for around 50 million citizens in the European Union. The conference will discuss how to further promote and reinforce the vital role of crafts and small enterprises as dynamic drivers of the economy, so that they don't miss out on innovation, for which matching skills, better standards and easier access to bank loans and guarantees to start or expand are crucial. Among the conference speakers are German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of the EU Council, Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen, Michael Glos, German Minister for Economics and Technology and Günther H. Oettinger, Prime Minister of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg.