CAF Promotes SME Internationalization under Mercosur-European Union Agreement

SMEs account for more than 99.5% of businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean, and create 60% of formal productive jobs, according to the “SME Policy Index” developed by CAF together with the OECD.

This sector faces new challenges and opportunities for integration into global markets based on the signing of the Mercosur (MCS)–European Union (EU) Agreement. As a result, CAF and the Foreign Trade Secretariat of Argentina’s Ministry of Production and Labor launched the seminar “SMEs into the world: keys to targeting new markets,” with a view to sharing CAF’s experience in the region, through the implementation of financial and non-financial products aimed at strengthening drivers of global insertion of SMEs. In this regard, presentations included examples of technical cooperation, programs such as Propyme and 3E, financing of logistics infrastructure and knowledge generation, among other experiences.

“As development bank of Latin America, CAF’s core mission is to reinforce integration and sustainable development of member countries, which involves discussing productive transformation and SMEs. At CAF we have been promoting a work agenda with governments and the private sector aimed at helping SMEs grow and tap into global value chains,” said Santiago Rojas, CAF representative in Argentina, during the opening of the seminar.

“This is a milestone event because it is the first meeting we organize with CAF, which has a vast regional experience, and thus we believe this is an opportunity to reinforce our joint work. For us as a country, the Mercosur-European Union (EU) Agreement is a tremendous challenge in terms of preparing SMEs to leverage the opportunities of this process, and we believe that CAF is a natural ally that can contribute with its vision about the potential of the agreement,” said Santiago Vexina, head of advisers to Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Trade.

The panel “MSC-EU Agreement: Opportunity and Challenges” featured Federico Lavopa, Undersecretary of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Production and Labor; Ignacio Bartesaghi, dean of the Faculty of Business Sciences of the Catholic University of Uruguay; and Jorge Castro, international analyst and President of the Strategic Planning Institute (IPE). These were followed by Carlos Hallak, Undersecretary of International Insertion at the Ministry of Production and Labor, and Adolfo Castejón, Chief Executive of the Analysis and Technical Evaluation Directorate at the Private Sector Vice-Presidency of CAF, in the panel “The challenge of tapping into international markets.”

“CAF has been working on an agenda with the public and private sectors, through a series of financial and non-financial instruments, which help strengthen enablers of export of goods and services,” explained Adolfo Castejón.

CAF promotes foreign trade by financing infrastructure for logistics and communication; technical assistance, funding, and knowledge generation, in order advance regional integration and sustainable development, where SMEs are a critical driver for growth with social inclusion.