My research will describe Georgia’s development experience. From one hand it is already a ‘poster child’ because of successful reforms on the other hand its SMEs are struggling and can not provide the base for sustainable growth. It will be compared to the challenges of Romanian SMEs. I will focus mostly at the period of joining the EU (preparatory reforms and related reforms after the joining concerning the SMEs). I will focus three areas: Access to EU market, Access to finance, and Access to skills. My research will focus the reforms/assistance taken to allow greater Accesses for Romanian SMEs, what obstacles they were facing and how did they overcome them, together with the challenges they are facing currently.

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