Pat Breen TD, Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection will this week represent Ireland at a major OECD Ministerial Conference in Mexico City. The theme of the conference is “Strengthening SMEs and Entrepreneurship for Productivity and Inclusive Growth”.
The Ministerial Conference will be the third in a series held in the context of the OECD Bologna Process – a dynamic political mechanism aimed at stimulating economic growth and social development, both in OECD countries and the rest of the world. It comprises some 80 economies worldwide, as well as a large number of international organisations, institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Through sharing international experiences and information, its purpose is to improve the efficiency of policies directed at fostering entrepreneurship and to assist in the development and competitiveness of small and medium sized firms.
Speaking in advance of the Conference Minister Breen said: “This is the first OECD SME Ministerial in 14 years. As Minister with responsibility for business, I am acutely aware of the importance of SMEs to an economy and in how much they contribute to the economic lifeblood of a nation. In Ireland, SMEs account for 99.8 per cent of the nearly 250,000 enterprises that we have. They also account for nearly 70 per cent of all private sector employment and generate nearly 50 percent of all turnover”.
SMEs are key to strengthening an economy’s productivity. SMEs that grow have a considerable positive impact on employment creation, innovation, productivity growth and competitiveness.
The Conference will discuss many of the issues facing SMEs worldwide with a view to informing required policy responses.
As well as being the Head of Delegation for Ireland, Minister Breen will also be a panellist on an SME Stakeholders event with other Ministers. He will speak on a variety of topics relating to the SME sector. He stated ”Digital technologies enable SMEs to improve market intelligence and access distant markets and knowledge networks at relatively low cost”.
“As a Government, it is important that we devise and implement informed policies that allow us to maximise the potential our SMEs. For this Conference, I am focused on engaging with the OECD to ensure the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation applies international best practice to make the business ecosystem as strong and as supportive as possible for Irish SMEs”. The Mid west minister concluded.
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