Why this project?

Public procurement offers major business opportunities to SMEs and contributes to their growth and global competitiveness. However, the participation of SMEs in procurement within and outside the EU is low.

Improving SMEs’ access to public procurement is an important objective for the European Commission. Access to non-EU public procurement markets was negotiated by the EU through the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) or via bilateral Free Trade Agreements.

In this regard, the EU-Moldova agreement or the EU-Ukraine agreement envisages mutual access to public procurement markets in each country at national, regional, and local levels. This is regarding public contracts and concessions in traditional sectors, as well as in the utilities sector. The agreement also makes sure that Moldovan and EU bidders as well as Ukrainian and EU bidders are given the same treatment when bidding for one another’s tenders.

EU-Moldova agreement >> More info

EU-Ukraine agreement>> More info

Political context of the targeted countries

In recent news, the political climate of the targeted countries seems to be very favourable for deepened EU cooperation and SMEs implantation. In fact, 30 years after their independence, the countries are more than never working towards a common agenda with the EU. Charles Michel, in his recent speech at the Batumi International Conference has highlighted once more the importance of cooperation with the Eastern Partners. He wishes to strengthen Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia’s commitment to EU standards and congratulates them for their recent evolution. Since Prague’s Summit in 2009, the Eastern Partnership has benefited partner countries with free trade agreements, putting EU in first place as largest trading partner for these countries. In the future, the aim is to support economic recovery by financially supporting flagship initiatives to boost public and private investments.