Tajani visits Sicily to jump-start recovery of local SMEs

European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani have travelled to Palermo, Sicily to help SMEs emerge from the recent economic downturn.

Representatives of 600 European companies will visit the region and participate in more than 1,300 bilateral meetings with SMEs from Sicily. Its hoped new business partnerships will be formed as the event presents opportunities for collaboration in key industrial sectors, namely aerospace, agro-food, biotechnology and fashion. The visit follows on from a similar trip by Tajani in early March to Campania.

A central focus of the visit is a business-to-business networking event, which aims to generate partnerships between both companies in Sicily and other EU regions and countries, as well as between Sicilian companies and those from non-European countries.

Another important part of this visit will be the ‘Europe 2020 Strategy for Growth’ conference. Issues discussed will include EU financing for business, as well as supporting SME competitiveness and innovation.

Tajani will also use the visit to highlight funding opportunities that will be available under Horizon 2020. This includes the new SME Instrument, which, with the help of the Enterprise Europe Network, will support innovative SMEs during the entire innovation cycle.