Support of Small and Medium-
sized enterprises
SMEs are going through a tough and prolonged
period of instability and downsizing, without hav-
ing the escape routes available to large enterpris-
es. According to the Ministry, they remain
trapped, without any actual hope for a better
future and fraught with inherent weaknesses that
limit their capability to recover and extend in new
fields of activity.
The measures for enhancing SMEs include
•
the change of an obsolete business approach
(limited information, insufficient expertise on man-
agement, organization and marketing issues)
•
the change of an adverse business environ-
ment, especially for small enterprises (time-
consuming administrative procedures for the
establishment, licensing, operation and trans-
fer of enterprises).
A permanent policy goal is to preserve SMEs and
enhance their growth role, in order to enable them
to fully exploit the business opportunities offered
by proper environmental management as part of
green growth. We aim at facilitating and support-
ing entrepreneurship through the formation of an
effective operating framework and a network of
modern infrastructures, which will ensure the
SMEs’ access to new knowledge, new “clean”
technologies, new skills, fresh business capital
and new markets.
Solid Waste & Management
The aim of the new measures is to ensure inte-
grated solid waste management by reducing their
production, as well as by recovering, recycling
and reusing materials and utilizing them for ener-
gy generation. The government’s aim is to solve
the solid waste management issue by 2015; this
is an environmental, social, as well as economic
issue of huge importance and scale, which can
only be dealt with by means of an integrated pol-
icy on the national, regional and local levels, and
requires the cooperation of both the public and
private sectors.
Integrated solid waste management, given its rapid
transformation as a result of economic growth,
increased consumption and new requirements,
such as dealing with climate change, creates new
markets and quality jobs on many levels:
•
technological research & development;
•
the provision of consultancy services;
•
recycling programs;
•
the construction and operation of waste pro-
cessing and disposal units.
Trade with Greece
92
