The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has decided to sign an agreement with the EU on Ukraine's participation in the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs, 2014-2020) – COSME.

The press service of the cabinet reported that the decision was made at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, January 13.

"COSME is the mainline program of the EU with the budget of EUR 2.3 billion, aimed at creating favorable conditions for the development of SMEs being realized as part of the Europe 2020 strategy," the press service said.

When Ukraine joins the programme, it would help to develop Ukrainian business-friendly environment and advisory and analytical services linked to the export and import operations of companies and expansion of trade and economic ties, bringing Ukrainian laws in SMEs area in line with European standards and creating the conditions for popularizing SMEs and forming business culture.

Under the programme it is planned that Ukraine will participate in support of better access to markets, improvement of regulatory conditions for operation of SMEs and formation of the doing business culture.