ISTANBUL - The Second Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Ministerial-level International Conference on small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) will start in Istanbul on Wednesday.
The conference will be jointly hosted by the Directorate General of Small and Medium Scale Industry Development (KOSGEB) and the Union of Turkish Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The theme of the conference was announced earlier as ''Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovative SMEs in a Global Economy''.
Nearly 70 ministers from member countries and non-OECD countries and about a thousand technocrat and businessmen will attend the conference at Istanbul's Lutfi Kirdar Congress and Exhibition Palace.
The conference will start with meeting of SMEs working groups.
Following the Business Symposium on June 3, a reception will be held at the Topkapi Palace.
On June 4, ministerial-level meeting will take place.
The conference will end on June 5 after release of a press statement.
Representatives of international organizations and non-governmental organizations will also attend the conference.
An exhibition of ''Global Marketplace'' will be held between June 3 and 6. The exhibition will offer enterprises, business associations and technical centers the opportunity to display their activities and products and benefit from pre-arranged Business-to-Business (B-to-B) appointments.
The first conference took place in Bologna, Italy, in 2000.
(UK-AÖ) 01.06.2004