Romania’s Government is preparing to set up nine agencies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in order to attract investments and promote exports.

It will reorganize the eight territorial offices for SMEs. Each agency will have 26 employees, paid as civil servants who manage European funds, reports local Profit.ro.

The nine agencies will operate under the Ministry for Business Environment and will be located in Bucharest, Brasov, Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Craiova, Iasi, Ploiesti, Targu Mures, and Timisoara.

The current eight territorial offices for SMEs monitored 900 beneficiaries last year. For 2017, the number of beneficiaries is expected to grow at least 11 times.

Setting up the nine agencies is related to the Start-up Nation Romania program, which was launched into public debate more than two months ago. However, there are still many aspects to be clarified about the project.

A total of 10,000 small entrepreneurs can receive grants of up to RON 200,000 (about EUR 44,000) from the state to launch new businesses via the Start-up Nation - Romania program this year. The financing entirely covers the investment in the project. However, the financed startups need to create minimum two jobs, with indeterminate labor contracts.

editor@romania-insider.com