On 4 October 2017, the OECD will organise the first of three workshops in Armenia, as part of a new project aimed at ‘Improving Business Statistics in Armenia’.
The project is part of a new broader regional initiative on ‘Supporting competitiveness and business environment reforms in the Eastern Partnership: an EU4Business initiative 2017-2020’ co-funded by the EU and implemented across the Eastern Partnership by the OECD.
The one-year action to support SME statistics in Armenia will be implemented by the OECD in close co-operation with the Support to SME Development in Armenia (SMEDA) project.
The aim of the project in Armenia is to build capacity in Armenian institutions to collect, harmonise, analyse, publish and disseminate official SME statistics. Its activities will includes three capacity building workshops, as well as the development of a methodology to harmonise the production of SME statistics, and support in the preparation of an SME statistics report.
A Working Group, chaired by a senior official, will include representatives and experts from relevant institutions (e.g. statisticians from the National Statistical Service, policy makers from relevant ministries and analysts from government agencies), and representatives from the private sector, international organisations and development partners.
Beneficiaries of the project include the National Statistical Service, Central Bank, Ministry of Economic Development and Investments, SME Development National Centre, other relevant ministries and government agencies, and, ultimately, the broader SME community.
The three workshops will be targeted at the members of the Working Group, building on the methodological tools provided by the OECD-Eurostat Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme (EIP), the OECD Scoreboard on Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs, and information and guidance from country reviews and local economic intelligence work.
The first workshop on 4 October will focus on the methodology to define variables for producing SME statistics, make use of raw data collected by administrative agencies and compile key indicators describing entrepreneurship and business statistics.
The second and third workshops will follow in February and May 2018.
