12 July 2023|Event

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REDIBERO-ECLAC-CELAC

Wednesday, July 12, 2023, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Chile time

In person: Celso Furtado room, ECLAC

Virtual: By Zoom

Background

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) represent only 6% of the region's exports. Yet, they constitute 99% of registered businesses and two-thirds of employment. Their small participation in exports is explained, in part, by their low productivity and the challenges they face in overcoming different obstacles to export beyond access to credit.

The Trade Promotion Organizations (TPOs) –cooperating regionally through the Ibero-American Network of entities for the promotion of exports and attraction of foreign direct investment REDIBERO– are the leading public agencies in charge of designing and implementing support tools for SMEs in their internationalization process. For this purpose, they offer various services and carry out different activities to help exporters entering foreign markets.

The CORPYME project seeks to promote the development of SMEs, through a more intensive use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and paperless commerce. This project is an initiative of the government of the Republic of Korea and is being implemented by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) for the member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). For the second consecutive year, ECLAC collaborates with REDIBERO to promote these objectives.

Objectives

In 2023, the CORPYME project focuses on the operational aspects that are key to the success of support programs for the digital transformation of exporting SMEs in LAC. As part of the activities to disseminate the work, ECLAC and REDIBERO organize a webinar for the technical teams of the TPOs and other interested parties with the following goals:

• Share with organizations -dedicated to the design and provision of support instruments for the digital transformation of exporting SMEs- the main findings on the operational aspects of the programs, including salient features vital for their success.

• Establish a framework for designing, implementing, and monitoring digital transformation programs for exporting SMEs, particularly emphasizing public policies.

• Examine public and private digital transformation programs for exporting SMEs in the region and Korea that are of interest, as an example of good practice.

• Formulate recommendations for the promotion of the digital transformation of exporting SMEs.